CRAYON  SKETCHES 


Hint* 


P  ;UISHEi<  3MEN,  ORATORS, 

VYISTS,  EDITORS,  POETS,  AND  PHILANTHROPISTS.       < 


GEORGE  W.  BUNGAY. 


And  s> 

-I'EABE. 


B  0  S  T  0  Nv: 
PUBLISH  r  AND  "RICHAEDSON, 

1852 


CRAYON  SKETCHES 


DISTINGUISHED   AMERICAN    STATESMEN,  ORATORS, 
DIVINES,  ESSAYISTS,    EDITORS,  POETS, 
AND  PHILANTHROPISTSj 


GEORGE    W.   BUNGAY. 


Some  are  born  great,  some  achieve  greatness,  — 
And  some  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them. 

SHAKSPBAKB. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY    STACY  AND  RICHARDSON, 
~S  o .    11    MILK    STKKKT. 

1852. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Fifty-Two, 

BY  GEORGE  W.  BUIfGAY, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


BOSTON: 

anto  8trjjarti2<m,  printers, 
No.  11  Milk  Street. 


INTRODUCTION. 


IT  was  in  the  Spring  of  1850  that  the  author  of  the  following 
Sketches  called,  one  day,  into  the  office  of  the  New-Engkmder,  in 
Boston,  (whither  he  was  then  much  accustomed  to  resort,)  and  dur 
ing  a  conversation  which  ensued  with  the  editors  of  that  sheet, — 
then  somewhat  known  in  this  vicinity  as  a  temperance,  literary,  and 
family  journal,  —  the  subject  of  the  preparation  of  a  series  of  articles 
on  the  prominent  men  of  the  day  was  discussed,  and  favorably  enter 
tained.  The  author's  previous  effusions  had  been  marked  with  a  good 
deal  of  pith  and  piquancy,  and  the  conductors  of  the  New-Englander 
considered  that  an  highly  interesting  feature  would  be  added  to  their 
paper  by  his  regular  contributions,  written  in  the  free  and  cordial 
manner  which  was  his  wont. 

Nor  were  their  expectations  disappointed.  Mr.  BUNGAY'S  pur 
suits  having,  at  different  periods,  brought  him  in  connection  with 
many  of  the  leading  men  of  our  country,  —  possessing  a  mind  unu 
sually  well  refreshed  with  the  thoughts  of  our  best  writers,  both  in 
prose  and  verse,  —  and,  withal,  being  himself  a  man  of  earnest  and 
kindly  sympathies,  he  was  in  every  respect  qualified  for  the  task  he 
had  assumed.  It  had  been  previously  perceived,  in  Mr.  BUNGAT'S 
occasional  newspaper  effusions,  that  he  was  gifted  more  particu 
larly  with  the  power  of  terse,  graphic,  off-hand,  sententious  remark, 
than  with  that  of  elaborate  description,  or  polished  finish  and  orna- 


IV  INTKODUCTION. 

ment.  This  he  himself  acknowledged ;  and  thus,  by  general  con 
sent,  he  styled  his  productions  in  this  line,  "  OFF-HAND  TAKINGS," 
and  assumed  the  art-word  of  "  CKATON,"  as  the  most  appropriate 
signature  for  one  whose  light  and  dark  shades  upon  the  pictures 
of  his  imagination  were  so  agreeably  diversified. 

With  a  heart  and  a  pride  in  the  work,  therefore,  the  author  of 
the  following  Sketches  entered  upon  his  task;  and  to  his  credit,  it 
must  be  said,  he  immediately  won  a  popularity  which  many  have 
envied,  and  but  few  attained.  An  increased  demand  for  copies  of 
the  paper  was  quickly  perceptible ;  contemporaneous  journals,  it  was 
observed,  freely  copied  his  articles ;  and,  in  brief,  all  the  customary 
indications  were  had  that  Mr.  BUNGAY  had  made  a  successful  essay 
in  his  projected  enterprise,  while  the  editors  of  the  New-Englander 
became  the  recipients  of  many  thanks  for  affording  the  medium 
through  which  he  had  thus  successfully  communicated  with  the  public. 

The  following  work  contains  nearly  all  the  Sketches  which  ap 
peared  in  the  New  Englander,  a  few  others  written  more  lately  for 
different  journals,  and  a  still  less  number  prepared  expressly  for  this 
edition.  Each  has  been  carefully  revised,  all  redundancy  of  language 
or  thought  omitted,  any  previous  accidental  misinformation  corrected, 
and,  in  point  of  accuracy  and  applicability  to  their  subjects,  made 
pertinent  to  their  present  pursuits  and  the  current  hour.  It  will  be 
found,  it  is  trusted,  that  a  recognizable  delineation  of  many  of  the 
public  characters  of  the  nation,  —  the  "  representative  men  "  of  their 
respective  classes,  —  has  been  faithfully  and  impartially  given. 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  BUNGAY  has  executed  the  self- 
assamed  trust,  as  a  noter  and  critic  of  "men  and  measures,"  the 
work  itself  is  doubtless  the  best  commentator.  With  a  long  and 
successful  experience  as  a  popular  advocate  of  the  temperance  and 
other  reforms,  favored  with  an  enlarged  comprehension  of  the  true 
sphere  of  individual  usefulness,  and  uniting  in  his  person  a  well- 
developed  poetic  temperament  and  original  imagination,  —  with  a 


INTRODUCTION.  V 

hearty  interest  in  all  that  elevates  and  adorns  human  existence,  — it 
is  not  surprising  that  his  Sketches,  while  they  are  like  none  other 
in  readable  excellence  and  vivid  portraiture,  should  be  permeated 
with  his  warm,  generous  sympathies,  and  partake  conspicuously  of 
his  purest  heart-aspirations.  Thinking  thus,  his  prefacer  commits 
the  little  work  to  the  favor  of  the  public. 

C.  w.  s. 

BOSTON,  APRIL,  1852. 


CONSENTS. 


GEORGE  N.  BRIGGS, 
Jomr  P.  HALE, 
B.UFUS  CHOATE, 
HORACE  MANN, 
RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON, 
HORACE  GREELET, 
THEODORE  PARKER, 
JOHN  G.  WHITTIER, 
NEAL  Dow, 
GERRITT  SMITH, 
ABBOTT  LAWRENCE, 
WENDELL  PHILLIPS, 
PHILIP  S.  WHITE, 
JOHN  VAN  BUREN, 
WILLIAM  A.  WHITE, 
EDWIN  H.  CHAPIN, 
CHARLES  C.  BURLEIGH, 
WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 
DANIEL  WEBSTER, 
CHARLES  SUMNER, 
MOSES  GRANT, 
JOHN  B.  GOUGH, 


Page. 
'  9 
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17 
20 
24 
29 
83 
38 
43 
47 
52 
55 
60 
65 
69 
72 
76 
79 
82 
86 
91 
94 


10  CKAYON     SKETCHES. 

ranks  he  has  fought  many  battles  and  gained  many  victories. 
When  forgotten  as  Governor  of  the  glorious  old  Common 
wealth  of  Massachusetts,  he  will  be  gratefully  remembered 
as  having  been  a  successful  champion  of  the  temperance 
enterprise. 

Gov.  Briggs  recently  manifested  a  disposition  to  secure 
further  legislation  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  and  he  did 
not  handle  that  question  as  good  old  Izaak  Walton  did  the 
frog  he  used  for  a  bait,  touching  it  tenderly,  as  though  he 
would  put  the  hook  into  his  mouth  without  hurting  it.  In 
this  way  he  displeased  the  publicans  and  sinners  more  than 
he  did  the  friends  of  the  total  abstinence  cause.  He  is 
always  right  on  this  question,  and  deserves  great  credit  for 
his  devotion  to  the  principles  of  the  pledge,  and  his  cour 
ageous  advocacy  of  its  doctrines.  It  is  difficult  for  a 
politician  to  be  a  philanthropist,  but  he  is  more  of  the  latter 
than  the  former.  He  is  not  a  bogus  republican,  friendly  on 
election  days  and  forgetful  at  other  times.  He  is  not  a 
hypocrite,  who  spreads  palm-leaves  in  the  path  of  Jesus 
when  he  is  popular  in  Jerusalem,  and  denies  him  after  he 
is  nailed  to  the  cross.  He  believes  men  live  in  the  deeds 
they  do,  and  not  in  the  noise  they  make ;  in  the  thoughts 
they  have,  and  not  in  the  breaths  they  draw;  in  the 
beatings  of  a  good  heart,  and  not  in  the  throbbings  of  a 
gold  repeater. 

When  the  Hon.  Edward  Everett  delivered  the  eulogy  on 
the  death  of  the  lamented  Adams,  every  little  great  man  in 
the  city,  who  had  an  opportunity  to  make  a  display,  was 
bedizened  with  the  tinselry,  jewelry  and  regalia  of  office ; 
but  the  Governor,  who  is  a  wise  man  and  a  good  man,  wore 
a  plain  citizen's  dress,  marked  with  a  simple  badge  of 
mourning.  He  knows  that  birth,  genius,  talent,  learning, 
wealth  and  personal  attractions  do  not  alone  make  one  man 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  11 

better  than  another.  A  man  may  carry  a  silver-headed 
cane  and  wear  a  wooden  head.  He  may  learn  the  time  he 
squanders  from  a  gold  watch,  while  his  heart  is  as  corrupt 
as  a  nest  of  unclean  birds.  He  may  have  a  soft  hand  at 
one  end  of  his  arm  and  a  softer  head  at  the  other.  A  fool 
with  a  fortune  is  pretty  sure  to  clothe  his  back  more  than  he 
cultivates  his  brains. 

Governor  Briggs  was  apprenticed  to  the  hatting  business 
at  an  early  period  of  his  life,  and  although  he  afterwards 
became  a  lawyer,  he  never  treated  working  men  with  disre 
spect.  He  loves  to  grasp  the  hand  hardened  by  toil,  and 
whether  a  man's  face  be  bronzed  at  the  plough  or  bleached 
in  the  mill,  whether  he  be  clad  in  ruffles  or  in  rags,  he  is 
sure  to  meet  with  a  warm  and  welcome  and  unostentatious 
reception  when  introduced  to  George  N.  Briggs.  He  is  not 
so  eminent  a  lawyer  as  he  is  a  Governor,  although  he  is 
considered  an  Aristides  in  his  profession.  He  is  an  attract 
ive  speaker,  and  is  always  ready  on  all  suitable  occasions 
to  give  free  utterance  to  his  manly  sentiments.  He  is  more 
fluent  than  eloquent,  more  solid  than  brilliant,  more  inclined 
to  labor  arguments  and  relate  facts  than  to  round  periods 
and  polish  sentences.  When  his  voice  is  not  hoarse,  and 
his  mind  is  roused,  he  will  occasionally  thrill  the  heart  like 
a  blast  from  a  trumpet. 

During  his  stay  in  Congress  he  organized  a  Congressional 
Temperance  Society,  which  did  a  vast  amount  of  good,  but, 
unfortunately,  it  died  out  soon  after  he  returned  to  Massa 
chusetts.  In  the  Sabbath  School  this  distinguished  man  is 
"  at  home."  Let  the  nobles  of  the  land  copy  his  example 
in  this  respect,  and  make  themselves  useful  in  their  day  and 
generation. 

Governor  Briggs  has,  among  his  political  opponents,  many 
personal  friends.  He  doubtless  has  imperfections,  but  few 


12  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

public  men  have  less.  It  is  said  that  he  has  exercised  too 
much  clemency  toward  convicts  whom  he  has  pardoned ;  if 
this  be  a  fault  it  bears  toward  the  side  of  virtue.  Some 
think  his  course  respecting  the  Mexican  war  reprehensible, 
but  this  is  not  the  time  nor  the  place  to  investigate  that  mat 
ter.  Some  complain  that  he  has  not  sufficiently  imbibed  the 
spirit  of  anti-slavery,  but  as  we  are  not  all  organized,  nor 
educated,  nor  situated  alike,  we  must  make  some  allowance 
for  differences  of  opinion.  Whatever  may  be  the  opinion 
of  some,  he  will  long  be  remembered  as  a  consistent  Chris 
tian,  and  the  model  Governor  of  the  Old  Bay  State. 


JOHN  P.  HALE. 


JOHN  P.  HALE  is  a  free-and-easy,  fat-and-social  man, 
who  can  relish  a  dish  of  oysters,  or  a  good  joke,  as  well  as 
any  member  of  the  Senate.  He  has  the  courage  of  Crom 
well,  and  the  fun  of  Falstaff.  He  has  a  strong  hand  at  one 
end  of  his  arm,  and  a  strong  head  at  the  other.  When  he 
shakes  the  former,  you  feel  a  heart  throbbing  hi  the  palm  ; 
when  he  shakes  the  latter,  it  is  the  signal  of  a  storm  that 
will  hail  (Hale)  for  the  space  of  an  hour,  and  every  stone 
will  be  the  weight  of  a  talent. 

Foote  may  rave  and  foam,  and  threaten  to  hang  Hale,  his 
genial  and  generous  fellow  Senator,  on  the  tallest  tree  in 
Mississippi  ;  but  there  will  be  a  response  so  apropos,  so  full 
of  humor,  from  such  a  sunshiny  countenance,  the  peppery 
Mississippian  will  be  ashamed  of  his  impotent  imprecations. 
There  is  more  thunder  and  lightning  in  the  crack  of  Hale's 
joke,  than  there  is  punishment  in  the  crack  of  Foote's  pistol. 
The  pungent  wit  of  the  former  is  more  destructive  than  the 
exploding  powder  of  the  latter.  The  sarcasm  and  irony  of 
the  Northerner  is  more  dreaded  than  the  sulphur  and  salt 
petre  of  the  Southerner.  The  cool  man  of  "  Granite  "  is 
more  than  a  match  for  the  choleric  representative  of 
"  Cotton."  The  small  sword  of  wit  cuts  deeper  than  the 
bowie-knife  of  wrath.  Foote  is  a  middle-aged  gentleman, 
1* 


14  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

with  a  bald  head,  sear  face,  shrunken  limbs,  and  restless 
manners,  and  so  ignitable  it  is  a  wonder  he  had  not  caught 
fire  and  burnt  up  long  ago.  Hale  is  in  the  prime  of  life, 
broad  shouldered,  broad  chested,  and  stout  limbed,  and  he  has 
such  control  over  his  temper  he  never  forgets  to  be  courte 
ous,  even  to  those  who  permit  passion  to  rule  reason,  while 
they  sink  the  glorious  dignity  of  the  statesman  to  the  glad 
iatorial  level  of  the  blackguard  and  the  bully.  Hale  can 
flog  the  powdery  Senator  in  debate,  and  fling  him  out  of  the 
window  of  the  Capitol  afterwards,  as  Commodus  threw 
Oleander  out  of  the  Roman  palace. 

Foote  has  the  most  finished  education,  Hale  the  most 
practical  sense  ;  Foote  has  read  history  and  is  familiar  with 
the  past,  Hale  has  associated  Avith  the  people  and  knows  the 
necessities  of  the  present ;  Foote  understands  parliamentary 
usages,  Hale  observes  the  rules  of  the  Senate ;  Foote  is 
nervous,  furious  and  vituperative,  Hale  is  pleasant,  manly 
and  earnest ;  Foote  has  the  rasping  severity  of  Randolph, 
without  his  glowing  eloquence ;  the  brilliancy  of  Lee,  with 
out  his  chaste  dignity  ;  Hale  has  the  self-reliance  of  Benton, 
without,  perhaps,  his  general  information.  The  former  is  a 
Cavalier,  the  latter  a  Roundhead.  One  would  have  fought 
to  the  death  for  King  Charles,  the  other  would  have  united 
with  republican  Oliver ;  one  is  of  the  South  so  extreme  as 
to  be  tropical,  the  other  of  the  North  so  distant  as  to  be 
frigid.  When  that  great  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  Compromise 
Bill,  with  its  head  of  gold,  (without  brains,)  its  breast  of 
brass,  (without  a  heart,)  its  legs  of  iron,  (without  stability,) 
its  feet  of  Clay,  (without  a  foothold,)  was  set  up,  Mr.  Hale 
refused  to  bow  before  it ;  consequently,  he  was  bound  hand 
and  feet,  and  cast  into  the  heated  furnace,  but  he  came  out 
without  the  smell  of  fire  upon  his  garments.  During  the 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  15 

last  session  of  the  Senate  he  was  like  Daniel  (not  the 
Webster)  in  the  lion's  den,  but  he  remained  uninjured, 
although  there  was  no  angel  present  to  keep  the  mouths  of 
the  animals  closed. 

Mr.  Hale  is  a  man  whose  telescopic  discernment  enables 
him  to  discover  danger  at  a  distance,  and  when  unwise  or 
reckless  statesmen  plot  the  ruin  of  the  nation,  he  sends  up 
a  rocket  so  that  its  shower  of  sparks,  sheet  of  fire,  and 
startling  report,  may  attract  the  attention  of  the  people. 
When  that  infamous  Compromise  Bill  was  before  the  Senate, 
he  frequently  fired  an  alarm  gun,  to  warn  his  constituents 
and  his  countrymen.  Although  he  is  constitutionally  indo 
lent,  when  his  mercury  is  made  to  rise  to  the  blood  heat  of 
excitement  he  is  a  giant,  and  ordinary  men  are  like  grass 
hoppers  in  his  hands.  He  has  not  genius  to  originate, 
neither  does  he  display  much  oratorical  skill ;  but  his  words 
drop  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  place,  as  the  seed 
falls  from  the  hands  of  the  sower  into  the  furrow.  He  puts 
new  wine  into  old  bottles,  and  bursts  them.  He  is  a  man  for 
the  times,  and  speaks  the  language  as  well  as  the  sentiments 
of  the  masses.  The  man  bleached  in  the  factory,  and  the 
man  bronzed  in  the  foundry,  understand  him  without  the 
aid  of  an  interpreter. 

Mr.  Hale  is  sociable  and  affable  in  his  manners,  hearty 
and  pleasant  in  his  address.  He  has  the  courage  to  patron 
ize  and  defend  whatever  is  designed  to  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  human  race,  and  the  firmness  to  remain  the  unfalter 
ing  friend  to  humanity.  He  speaks  fluently  and  feelingly, 
and  his  style  and  sentiment  are  both  forcible  and  persuasive. 
He  is  a  man  of  foresight  and  sagacity,  and  keeps  pace  with 
the  march  of  progress.  He  speaks  in  behalf  of  the  African 
race,  and  pleads  for  the  Abstinence  cause. 


16  CEATON      SKETCHES. 

In  personal  appearance,  Mr.  Hale  is  a  large,  stout  man, 
somewhat  inclined  to  corpulency ;  has  a  full,  healthy,  rosy 
face ;  dark  hair,  touched  with  frost ;  blue  eyes,  beaming 
with  mirthfulness  ;  an  ample  chest  swelling  with  a  generous 
heart,  and  shoulders  strong  enough  to  bear  the  cross  of 
his  party. 


RUFUS    CHOATE. 


RUFUS  CHOATE  is  the  Brougham  of  the  "Western  World. 
He  is  not  so  profound  a  metaphysician  or  so  great  a  philoso 
pher  as  the  English  Lord ;  but  he  is  equally  eloquent,  and 
there  is  more  lightning  in  his  thunder.  When  he  speaks, 
his  black  eyes  glow  with  electricity,  his  hair  stands  erect  as 
though  his  head  were  a  galvanic  battery,  charging  each 
individual  hair  with  the  subtile  fluid.  He  is  furious  as  a 
madman  in  his  gestures,  and  not  unfrequently  tears  his  coat 
from  the  collar  to  the  waist,  when  he  becomes  intensely 
excited.  He  walks  from  one  end  of  the  platform  to  the 
other,  and  swings  his  arms  backwards  and  forwards  as 
though  he  intended  to  take  a  leap  into  the  middle  of  the 
room  and  land  upon  the  heads  of  his  hearers.  If  he  ever 
should  take  a  hop-step  and  jump,  in  the  midst  of  one  of  his 
orations,  there  would  be  danger  of  his  tumbling  down  the 
throats  of  some  of  the  gaping  multitude,  whose  mouths  are 
ever  open  to  swallow  every  syllable  he  utters.  No  wonder 
the  people  gape  and  gaze  with  such  astonishment  and  admi 
ration,  for  he  has  such  a  beautiful  gallery,  of  pictures  in  the 
chambers  of  his  imagination  —  such  an  affluence  of  lan 
guage —  so  retentive  a  memory  —  such  varied  learning — 
such  luminous  eloquence  and  eccentric  a  manner  of  deliv 
ery.  Often,  when  he  finishes  a  period  in  his  most  energetic 
style,  the  listener  involuntarily  looks  up  to  see  if  the  fiery 


18  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

bolt  just  launched  from  his  lips,  has  not  raised  the  roof,  or 
at  least  gone  through  the  ceiling.  It  is  as  difficult  to  report 
his  speeches,  as  it  would  be  to  report  the  trumpetings  of  the 
storm,  with  the  moaning  wind,  the  pattering  rain,  the  vivid 
lightnings  and  the  crashing  of  the  thunders.  He  begins 
like  an  eagle  soaring  from  his  eyrie,  and  continues  his 
upward  flight  over  the  mountain  tops,  up  higher  and  still 
higher,  andJiigher  still,  with  the  clouds  under  his  feet  and  a 
crown  of  stars  about  his  head ;  and  when  he  descends,  he 
shines  like  Moses  coming  down  from  the  mountain,  and  like 
him,  he  breaks  the  Commandments  when  he  finds  the  peo 
ple  worshipping  the  idol  of  another  party.  You  may  talk 
about  torrents  of  eloquence  —  he  is  the  very  Niagara  of 
eloquence,  with  the  silver  spray,  the  effulgent  bow,  and  the 
wasteless  waters  foaming  and  flashing  through  a  narrow 
channel  of  rocks.  His  speeches  are  brilliant  with  un 
measured  poetry,  and  abound  in  attic  wit,  biting  invective, 
glowing  rhetoric,  and  logic  on  fire.  "  He  can  hew  out  a 
Colossus  from  a  rock,  or  carve  heads  on  cherry  stones."  He 
is  not  a  glancing,  dancing  stream,  fettered  with  ice  half  the 
year ;  but  a  magnificent  and  mighty  river,  running  South  ; 
and  as  he  sweeps  on,  he  swallows  up  allusions,  quotations, 
figures,  from  Hesiod,  and  Homer,  and  Virgil,  and  Voltaire, 
and  Shakspeare,  and  Milton,  and  Washington  and  Webster, 
still  flowing  on, 

"  Like  to  the  Pontlc  Sea, 
Whose  current  and  compulsive  course 
Never  feels  retiring  ebb,  but  keeps  right  on 
To  the  Propontic  and  the  Hellespont." 

To  drop  the  figure  and  take  up  the  fact,  he  has  intensity  of 
purpose,  and  often  allows  his  impulsiveness  to  control  his 
judgment.  Every  great  effort  he  makes  at  the  Bar  or  on 
the  rostrum,  so  excites  his  nervous  system  that  he  cannot 


CRAYON      SKETCHES.  19 

sleep  sufficiently  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  his  physical  nature. 
But  he  is  fond  of  fame  and  of  money,  and  seems  determined 
to  keep  up  his  reputation  and  his  revenue  ;  consequently  his 
services  are  available  when  fair  opportunities  are  afforded 
for  the  improvement  of  either.  His  speeches  sound  better 
than  they  read.  Indeed,  it  would  not  be  gratifying  to  the 
vanity  of  himself  or  his  numerous  friends  to  pass  his  extem 
poraneous  speeches  through  the  crucible  of  criticism.  He 
skips  from  one  topic  to  another  with  the  agility  of  a  squirrel, 
a  fact  unnoticed  amid  the  blaze  of  his  surpassing  eloquence, 
until  the  storm  has  passed  by  and  the  fever  is  over,  and  then 
we  behold  the  best  a  reporter  can  do  in  the  columns  of  the 
newspaper. 

Mr.  Choate  is  a  dark  complexioned,  thin,  cadaverous  look 
ing  man,  with  keen  black  eyes,  and  a  profusion  of  unkempt 
hair  of  a  glossy  black  hue.  He  is  between  forty  and  fifty 
years  of  age,  and  of  a  nervous  billious  temperament.  He 
is  a  conservative  Whig  of  the  Webster  school,  and  has  made 
eloquent  speeches  recently  upon  the  leading  political  ques 
tions  of  the  day.  As  the  Scotch  orator  once  said,  I  have 
"  neither  time  nor  space  "  to  amplify  this  hastily  written 
sketch,  and  will  conclude  with  the  remark  that  Mr.  Choate 
is  one  of  the  most  popular  orators  of  modern  times.  We 
have  abler  lawyers  in  America,  but  the  Bar  has  not  a  more 
brilliant  and  successful  advocate.  We  have  more  ex 
perienced  statesmen,  but  few  serve  their  country  with  more 
fervid  zeal.  It  is  indeed  a  rich  treat  to  listen  to  the  gor 
geous  words  which  drop  from  his  lips  like  apples  of  gold  in 
pictures  of  silver. 


HORACE    MANN. 


THE  name  and  fame  of  the  distinguished  subject  of  this 
sketch  are  world-wide.  He  is  known,  honored  and  appre 
ciated  as  the  promoter  of  education  and  the  defender  of  the 
oppressed.  The  mantle  dropped  by  the  lamented  Adams 
sits  gracefully  upon  his  shoulders.  He  is  eminent  as  a 
writer,  a  speaker,  a  scholar  and  a  statesman.  His  essays 
and  his  speeches  command  the  attention  and  win  the  admi 
ration  of  all  who  read  or  hear  them.  He  never  fails  to  get 
the  eyes  and  ears,  if  not  the  hearts,  of  his  hearers,  whether 
they  belittle  children  in  a  common  school,  or  larger  ones  in 
Congress.  He  is  a  prophet  who  hath  honor  in  his  own  and 
other  countries.  The  first  time  the  writer  saw  him,  was  at 
the  opening  of  a  primary  school  in  Boston.  Several  prom 
inent  men  had  spoken  to  the  children  present,  in  unintelligi 
ble  language ;  in  fact,  they  spoke  to  the  youths  as  they  were 
accustomed  to  speak  to  adults.  By-and-by,  a  tall,  thin, 
graceful  man,  with  a  high  forehead  and  silvery  hair,  arose 
in  one  corner  of  the  room,  and  in  a  familiar  manner  asked 
the  children  to  let  him  see  their  red  lips  and  bright  eyes. 
In  a  moment  a  sea  of  sunny  faces  was  turned  toward  him. 
He  told  them  to  persevere  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge, 
and  asked  them  if  they  ever  saw  a  honey-bee  go  out  from 
its  hive  on  a  May  morning  in  pursuit  of  its  sweets.  They 
said  they  had  seen  the  bee  on  his  tour  among  the  flowers. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  21 

"  Now,"  continued  the  speaker,  "  when  he  comes  from  the 
leaves  he  does  not  bring  a  whole  hive  on  his  back,  but  he 
flies  home  with  a  little  at  a  time."  The  children  were 
intensely  interested  in  his  stories,  comparisons,  allusions  and 
admonitions. 

The  next  time  I  saw  this  prominent  and  popular  MANN, 
was  at  the  dedication  of  a  grammar  school  in  Boston. 
Many  of  the  first  citizens  were  present,  and  listened  with 
delight  to  his  extemporaneous  and  appropriate  speech.  His 
tongue  is  like  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer.  It  costs  him  little 
or  no  effort  to  round  a  period  handsomely,  or  polish  a  sen 
tence  until  it  becomes  transparent  with  beauty,  and  as  for 
grammatical  inaccuracies,  even  in  his  impromptu  efforts, 
they  are  out  of  the  question.  Last  Winter  he  delivered  the 
introductory  lecture  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Associa 
tion.  Tremont  Temple  was  packed,  from  the  orchestra  to 
the  entrance.  Many  persons  were  obliged  to  leave  the 
crowded  doors  for  want  of  accommodation.  After  the  usual 
preliminaries,  the  orator  appeared  on  the  platform  and  was 
warmly  greeted  by  the  vast  audience.  He  commenced  at 
once  by  leaping,  at  a  single  bound,  into  the  middle  of  his 
thesis,  and  he  addressed  the  young  merchants  in  a  strain  of 
surpassing  power  and  eloquence.  The  last  survivor  of 
that  large  assembly  cannot  outlive  the  impression  that 
masterly  effort  made  on  every  appreciating  mind.  He 
spoke  forcibly,  rapidly,  emphatically.  Wit,  humor,  pathos, 
irony,  argument,  flowed  from  his  lips  as  freely  as  water 
from  an  unfailing  fountain.  Those  who  carry  their  souls  in 
the  sacs  of  their  stomachs,  and  those  who  carry  their  hearts 
in  their  breeches-pockets,  were  shown  up  as  Marshal  Tukey 
exhibits  the  light-fingered  gentlemen  who  sometimes  visit 
the  City  of  Notions.  He  did  not  spare  the  wine-bottle  nor 
the  tobacco-box,  the  coffee-pot  nor  the  tea-kettle.  He  pro- 
2 


22  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

nounced  woes  against  those  who  will  not  breathe  pure  air, 
and  drink  cold  water,  and  eat  plain  food,  and  sleep  on  hard 
beds  in  ventilated  rooms.  He  has  a  stout  heart  and  a  strong 
hand,  and  the  whip  he  holds  over  the  backs  of  gluttons  and 
imbibers  has  a  silver  lash  and  a  golden  handle,  and  although 
every  blow  reaches  the  red,  the  wounded  and  the  whipped 
save  their  lamentations  for  the  secret  chamber  where  they 
sit  upon  the  stool  of  repentance. 

If  it  be  true  that  New  England  is  further  from  perdition 
and  nearer  paradise  than  any  other  portion  of  America,  it  is 
owing  to  the  superiority  of  her  public  schools.  Horace 
Mann  has  done  more  than  any  other  person  to  elevate  the 
educational  advantages  of  New  England.  His  praise  is  in 
all  the  schools.  His  system  of  instruction  is  almost  univer 
sally  adopted.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  Washington  is 
sure  to  spoil  the  principles  of  some  men  whom  the  multi 
tude  delight  to  honor.  Not  so  with  Horace  Mann.  He 
does  not  wear  a  double  face.  He  does  not  blow  hot  and 
cold  in  the  same  breath.  He  does  not  amend,  abridge  or 
alter  his  speeches  to  suit  the  latitude  in  which  he  lives. 
Even  the  Hercules  of  the  Senate,  the  mighty  Expounder  of 
the  Constitution,  has  felt  the  weight  of  his  arm  and  stag 
gered  under  the  force  of  his  blow.  Horace  Mann  not  only 
goes  for  free  soil  and  free  men,  but  for  free  air  and  the  free 
use  of  cold  water.  He  is  liberal-minded,  generous-hearted, 
dignified  in  his  deportment,  genteel  in  his  address,  and 
his  character  is  like  Caesar's  wife,  above  suspicion.  He  is 
not  only  admired,  but  really  beloved,  by  his  friends,  acquaint 
ances  and  constituents. 

Phrenologically  speaking,  he  has  a  classical  face  and 
forehead.  The  organ  of  benevolence  is  prominently  devel 
oped,  as  are  the  organs  of  causality,  comparison,  ideality 
and  sublimity.  He  is  a  poet,  although  he  may  not  have 


CRAYON      SKETCHES.  23 

exhibited  any  symptoms  of  that  sort  in  rhyme.  In  his  hap 
piest  efforts  before  an  audience,  he  often  leads  them  high  up 
the  mountain  so  that  they  may  see  the  promised  land  where 
the  nations  shall  dwell  in  the  good  time  coming. 

Mr.  Mann  is  a  cogent  reasoner,  a  deep  thinker,  a  ready 
debater,  an  elegant  writer,  a  splendid  speaker.  There  is  a 
little  lisping  impediment  on  his  tongue  until  he  becomes  ex 
cited.  Anti-progress  men  cannot  bribe  him,  nor  scare  him, 
nor  gag  him,  nor  cope  with  him  at  the  press  or  in  the  forum. 
He  is  remarkable  for  his  originality,  and  his  ideas  are  like 
pictures  painted  on  glass  by  those  ancients  who  had  the  art, 
now  lost,  of  making  the  colors  penetrate  the  surface  so  that 
the  object  appeared  as  vividly  on  one  side  as  the  other.  He 
may  be  called  a  "  proverbial  philosopher,"  a  prose  poet,  a 
sayer  as  well  as  a  doer  of  good  things.  Some  of  the  "  old 
liners  "  in  literature  and  theology,  do  not  approve  his  liberal 
sentiments.  They  have  not  the  courage  to  assail  him 
openly,  but  they  damn  him  with  faint  praise  in  private 
circles.  He  is  apt  to  indulge  a  taste  for  alliteration.  It  is 
almost  the  only  blemish  in  his  essays  and  speeches.  There 
is  no  man  in  New  England  so  well  qualified  in  every 
respect  to  occupy  the  post  of  honor  and  duty  rendered 
vacant  by  the  death  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  as  he. 


RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 


RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON  is  one  of  the  most  erratic  and 
capricious  men  in  America.  Some  of  the  wiseacres  who  at 
first  declared  him  a  will-o'-the-wisp,  have  long  since  made 
the  discovery  that  he  is  a  fiery  comet  of  the  first  magnitude, 
sweeping  through  the  heavens,  and  eclipsing  the  glory  of 
some  of  the  fixed  stars  in  our  literary  firmament.  He  is 
emphatically  a  democrat  of  the  world,  and  believes  that  what 
Plato  thought  another  man  may  think,  what  Paul  felt 
another  man  may  feel,  what  Shakspeare  sang  others  may 
know  to  be  true.  As  for  popes,  emperors,  kings,  queens, 
princes,  and  presidents,  he  looks  upon  them  as  grown-up 
children  in  masquerade,  —  uncrown  them,  disrobe  them,  and 
bring  them  on  a  fair  level  with  their  fellow  beings,  and  their 
superiors  may  be  found  among  their  subjects.  In  his  essay 
on  Self-Reliance,  he  says  :  —  "  Our  reading  is  mendicant 
and  sycophantic  in  history,  our  imagination  makes  fools  of 
us,  plays  us  false.  Kingdom  and  lordship,  power  and  estate, 
are  a  gaudier  vocabulary  than  private  John  or  Edward  in  a 
small  house  and  common  days'  works,  but  the  things  of  life 
are  the  same  to  both.  Why  all  this  deference  to  Alfred  and 
Scanderberg  and  Gustavus  ?  Suppose  they  were  virtuous, 
did  they  wear  out  virtue  ?  "  He  has  no  patience  with  the 
chicken-hearted  who  have  to  refer  to  mouldy  records  and  old 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  25 

almanacks  to  ascertain  if  they  may  say  their  souls  are  their 
own.  We  overlook  present  good  in  our  insane  attempts  to 
pry  into  the  mysteries  of  the  dark  past.  "We  put  the  past 
in  front  of  our  faces,  instead  of  keeping  it  behind  our  backs, 
where  it  legitimately  belongs.  Hear  him :  —  "  He  dare  not 
say  I  think  I  am,  but  quotes  some  saint  or  sage.  He  is 
ashamed  before  the  blade  of  grass  or  blowing  rose.  These 
roses  under  my  window  make  no  reference  to  former  roses, 
or  to  better  ones ;  they  are  for  what  they  are ;  they  exist 
with  God  to  day."  "  But  man  postpones  or  remembers ;  he 
does  not  live  in  the  present,  but  with  reverted  eye  laments 
the  past,  or,  heedless  of  the  riches  that  surround  him,  stands 
on  tip-toe  to  foresee  the  future." 

This  idealistic  philosopher  and  Titian  thinker  is  not  san 
guine  in  his  hopes  of  progress.  He  has  the  impression  that 
men  say  "  go,"  and  stand  still ;  that  radicals  shout  "  reform," 
and  do  not  improve  themselves  ;  that  many  Christians  go  to 
church  for  the  same  reason  that  the  multitude  went  into  the 
wilderness.  If  society  improves  here,  it  retrogrades  there ; 
when  the  tide  of  prosperity  flows  in  one  place,  it  ebbs  in 
another.  We  have  maps,  charts,  books  and  globes,  but 
neglect  to  study  the  beautiful  earth  and  the  bright  heavens. 
We  go  fast,  (even  by  steam,)  but  what  we  have  gained  in 
speed  we  have  lost  in  strength ;  we  have  acquired  a  knowl 
edge  of  science  and  sacrificed  our  health ;  the  telegraph  is 
our  "  errand-boy,"  and  we  die  for  the  lack  of  exercise ;  we 
lose  our  roses  in  our  teens,  and  grow  grey  in  the  morning  of 
life.  If  we  are  wiser,  we  are  also  older  than  our  fathers 
were  at  twice  our  age.  We  gape  and  gaze  at  every  novelty 
that  comes  before  us.  A  quack  with  his  nostrums,  a  priest 
with  his  nonsense  say  to  us,  "  Shut  your  eyes,  open  your 
mouth,  and  swallow  ; "  and  we,  like  boa-constrictors,  swallow 
2* 


26  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

the  whole,  and  then  mistake  an  undigested  stomach-full  for 
a  heart-full. 

Mr.  Emerson  is  a  terse,  vivid  and  graphic  writer.  Some 
times  there  is  a  glow  of  poetry  behind  a  veil  of  mist  in  his 
essays.  It  is  difficult  to  tell  at  what  he  is  driving.  He  is 
often  like  the  sun  in  a  fog ;  we  know  there  is  light  and  heat, 
but  the  vapor  hangs  like  a  thin  curtain  between  us  and  the 
luminary,  as  though  the  monarch  of  the  skies  was  trying  to 
hide  his  spots.  He  now  and  then  deals  in  unintelligible 
inversions,  inexplicable  mysticisms,  and  seems  to  shake  up 
his  disjointed  and  unsorted  ideas  in  ollapodiana  style,  as 
though  he  designed  to  give  us  the  "  clippings,  parings  and 
shreds  of  his  thoughts."  If  Swedenborg  be  the  Shakspeare 
of  theology,  Emerson  is  the  Swedenborg  of  philosophy. 
Even  his  incongruous  agglomerations  are  brilliant  as  they 
are  incomprehensible.  Read  the  following  as  a  specimen  of 
that  style :  — "  The  Gothic  cathedral  is  a  blossoming  in 
stone,  subdued  by  the  insatiable  demand  of  harmony  in  man. 
The  mountain  of  granite  blooms  into  an  eternal  flower,  with 
the  lightness  and  delicate  finish  as  well  as  the  serial  propor 
tions  and  perspective  of  vegetable  beauty.  In  like  manner 
all  public  facts  are  to  be  individualized,  all  private  facts  are 
to  be  generalized.  Then  at  once  history  becomes  fluid  and 
true,  and  biography  deep  and  sublime." 

Mr.  Emerson  is  a  poetical  as  well  as  a  prose  writer,  but 
there  is  more  poetry  in  his  prose  than  in  his  poems.  In 
Europe  he  is  regarded  as  the  essayist  of  America.  During 
his  tour  through  Great  Britain,  he  met  with  a  cordial  recep 
tion,  and  his  lectures  were  numerously  attended.  He  is  by 
some  entitled  the  "  Carlyle  of  America,"  but  he  is  evidently 
a  better  and  a  greater  man  than  Carlyle.  The  pupil  is 
wiser  than  the  teacher.  The  chip  is  larger  than  the  block. 


CRATON     SKETCHES.  27 

He  has  a  more  opulent  intellect,  much  better  taste,  and 
higher  and  holier  aims,  than  the  snarling,  cynical  philosopher 
of  the  Old  World. 

The  only  time  the  writer  had  an  opportunity  to  hear  Mr. 
Emerson,  was  at  a  mass  meeting  in  Worcester.  He  was 
invited  to  speak,  and  responded  with  great  reluctance,  and 
then  made  a  failure.  He  stammered,  halted,  blundered, 
hesitated,  through  a  five  minutes'  speech.  The  people  were 
astonished  at  his  awkwardness.  He  cannot  make  an  extem 
poraneous  speech.  He  would  not  have  appeared  to  such 
great  disadvantage,  perhaps,  had  he  not  followed  directly  in 
the  wake  of  Wendell  Phillips.  Mr.  Emerson  is  in  the 
prune  of  life,  and  is  an  intellectual-looking  man ;  has  dark 
brown  hair,  blue  eyes,  a  pale,  thoughtful  face,  not  a  great 
development  of  forehead,  and  is  between  forty  and  fifty 
years  of  age.  He  is  a  sociable,  accessible,  republican  sort 
of  a  man,  and  a  great  admirer  of  nature.  Had  he  been  a 
Persian  he  would  have  worshipped  the  sun.  He  is  cele 
brated  the  world  over  as  a  lyceum  lecturer.  He  is  in  inde 
pendent  circumstances.  He  is  a  strange  compound  of  con 
tradictions  —  always  right  in  practice,  often  right  in  theory. 
He  is  a  sun,  rising  in  the  East  and  setting  in  the  West,  but 
occasionally  he  alarms  and  astonishes  us  by  rising  and  shin 
ing  at  midnight. 

The  literary  Lilliputians  who  have  endeavored  to  pin 
Emerson  to  the  earth,  find  that  he  is  in  good  standing  with 
the  gods  ;  of  course,  their  labors,  not  of  love  but  of  jealousy, 
are  lost.  He  loves  his  brother  man,  whether  he  belongs  to 
the  green-jacket  tribe  or  the  royal  family.  He  looks  upon 
the  flowers  as  his  friends. 


'  The  spendthrift  crocus,  bursting  from  the  mould, 
Naked  and  shivering  with  Its  cup  of  gold," 


28  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

has  honey  and  fragrance  for  him.  The  birds  are  his  com 
panions,  and  he  interprets  their  warblings.  Pie  reads  the 
lessons  that  are  stereotyped  on  the  rocks,  —  in  a  word,  to 
him  the  world  is  a  book  and  the  sky  its  blue  cover  ;  deserts 
and  oceans  are  its  fly-leaves,  and  the  busy  nations  the  illus 
trations  of  the  volume. 


HORACE   GREELEY. 


THE  subject  of  tliis  sketch  is  the  prince  of  paragraphists 
—  the  Napoleon  of  Essayists.  For  years  he  has  employed 
his  talents  in  winding  and  unwinding  the  "  tangled  yarn  "  of 
human  affairs  in  Church  and  State  —  in  Philosophy  and 
Politics  —  in  Art  and  Literature.  He  is  the  great  recording 
secretary  of  this  Continent,  employed  by  the  masses  to  take 
notes  and  print  them.  His  business  is  to  "  hold  the  mirror 
up  to  Nature,  and  show  the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time, 
its  form  and  pressure."  He  has  the  pluck  to  say  as  an 
editor  what  he  feels  as  a  man  —  when  he  forgets  that  he  is 
a  politician.  It  is  then  that  we  find  truth  without  conceal 
ment,  and  genuine  open-heartedness  without  wire-working 
behind  the  curtain.  It  is  then  he 

4 ' Pours  out  all  as  plain 

As  downright  Shippen,  or  as  old  Montaigne." 

Notwithstanding  his  wayward  whims  —  his  eccentric  man 
ners  —  his  love  of  the  intangible  ideal  —  his  faith  in  Four- 
rierism  —  his  responses  to  spirit  rappers  —  his  man- worship 
when  Henry  Clay  is  the  human  god  —  he  is  still  the  model 
Editor  and  the  leader  of  the  "  press  gang;"  and  the  columns 
of  The  Tribune  afford  a  panoramic  view  of  the  American 
world  as  it  is.  Greeley  is  a  pen  pugilist,  (but  never  a  bully,) 


30  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

and  woe  betide  the  unlucky  wight  that  begins  the  assault. 
Is  he  a  clergyman  ?  —  then  duodecimos,  octavos  and  quartos 
of  ecclesiastical  history  will  be  hurled  at  his  head,  and  he 
cannot  dodge  them  though  he  makes  a  coward's  castle  of  the 
pulpit.  Is  he  a  political  man  ?  —  then  he  must  be  right,  or 
he  will  be  flaggellated,  if  he  ventures  to  measure  lances  with 
one  who  is  a  walking  register  and  familiar  with  every  impor 
tant  political  event  that  has  transpired  for  the  last  twenty 
years.  He  has  more  than  a  usual  knowledge  of  the  past. 
His  writings  embrace  every  variety  of  style,  classic  beauty, 
exquisite  poetry,  graphic  description,  vapid  commonplace, 
the  full  sun-blaze  of  originality,  the  moon  in  the  mist,  and 
the  ignis  fatuus  light  of  whimsical  nonsense.  It  is  but 
just,  however,  to  say,  that  he  rarely  troubles  his  readers  with 
verbiage  or  pedantry.  He  gives  us  his  immediate  impres 
sions  of  things,  and  his  style  depends  somewhat  upon  the 
state  of  his  health  and  the  leisure  at  his  disposal.  He  does 
not  stop  to  tack  on  syllables  to  make  a  sentence  even,  nor 
measure  periods  so  that  they  will  be  as  mathematically  cor 
rect  as  the  vibrations  of  a  pendulum ;  but  he  dashes  on, 
heedless  of  consequences.  His  widely  circulated  journal 
contains  good  specimens  of  acute  wit,  critical  reasoning,  solid 
argument,  brilliant  invective,  profound  philosophy,  beautiful 
poetry,  and  moving  eloquence,  mixed  with  the  opposites  of 
these. 

Mr.  Greeley  is  entirely  free  from  heartless  bigotry  or 
hypocritical  obstinacy.  He  is  benevolent  in  his  disposition, 
affable  and  sociable  in  his  manners,  often  speaks  in  pub 
lic,  and  owing  to  his  fame  as  a  writer,  attracts  considera 
ble  attention  ;  but  he  is  always  sure  to  disappoint  his  hear 
ers,  for  he  has  not  sufficient  eloquence  as  an  orator,  to  buoy 
up  the  reputation  he  has  won,  as  a  writer.  His  manner  is 
uncouth,  his  matter  often  dry,  and  his  person  by  no  means 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  31 

prepossessing.  Here  permit  me  to  say,  that  his  careless,  slip 
shod,  slovenly  way  of  dressing  his  person,  has  rendered  him 
a  man  of  mark  and  remark.  His  white  hat  and  white  coat 
have  been  immortalized,  because  they  are  ever  worn  and 
ever  lasting.  If  this  Whig  prophet  had  more  dignity  and 
more  dandyism,  he  would  be  less  popular  with  the  masses, 
but  a  great  favorite  with  uppercrustdom. 

Mr.  Greeley  is  a  practical  printer,  and  has  risen  to  his 
present  eminence  by  his  untiring  industry,  his  unconquerable 
perseverance  and  extraordinary  talents.  No  man  in  this 
nation  controls  public  opinion  more  than  he.  He  is  a 
Grand  Marshal  in  the  great  army  of  reformers,  not  afraid 
or  ashamed  to  speak  —  to  commit  himself,  save  when  his 
party  may  suffer  by  the  act.  He  is  a  patriot  Whig,  a  phi 
lanthropic  Whig,  a  temperance  Whig,  an  anti-slavery  Whig, 
a  Whig  writer,  a  Whig  speaker,  the  editor  of  a  Whig  paper, 
and  that  paper  one  of  the  very  best  in  the  United  States. 

No  wonder  Mr.  Greeley  knows  so  well  how  to  meet  the 
wants  and  wishes  of  his  patrons,  for  he  has  been  in  the  world 
ever  since  he  was  born>  and  has  been  hi  various  situations  in 
life  —  canal  driver*  and  member  of  Congress.  Mr.  Greeley 
is  about  forty  years  of  age,  of  nervous  temperament,  has  a 
large  head — too  large  for  his  vital  organs — a  pale  complex 
ion,  small  eyes  sunk  under  a  dumpling  forehead,  a  very 
scanty  supply  of  very  soft,  white  hair,  (not  grey,)  which 
will  not  grow  in  front,  but  makes  up  the  deficiency  by  a 
patriarchal  overgrowth  behind. 

When  the  reader  beholds  a  man  with  an  old  white  hat 
stuck  on  the  back  of  the  cranium,  and  leaving  the  forehead 
bare,  a  shirt-collar  neckerchiefless  and  unbuttoned,  a  vest 
which  looks  as  though  it  had  been  put  on  with  a  pitch-fork, 

*  I  have  been  so  informed. 


82  CBAYON     SKETCHES. 

a  pair  of  trowsers  with  one  leg  stuck  in  a  coarse  boot  and 
the  other  striving  in  vain  to  reach  the  ancle ;  a  coat  that 
seems  to  have  been  blown  upon  his  back,  and  pockets  filled 
with  exchange  papers  —  he  may  be  sure  he  sees  Horace 
Greeley.  This  gentleman  is  a  dietarian  ;  eats  coarse,  plain 
food,  drinks  nothing  but  cold  water,  bathes  daily,  and  sleeps 
upon  a  hard  bed. 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  say,  that  Mr.  Greeley  is  a 
man  whose  virtuous  life,  abstemious  habits,  generous  deeds 
and  magnificent  talents,  entitle  him  to  the  admiration  of  his 
fellow  men. 


THEODORE    PARKER. 

"  This,  like  a  public  inn,  provides  a  treat 
Where  each  promiscuous  guest  sits  down  to  eat; 
And  such  this  mental  food  as  we  may  call 
Something  to  all  men,  and  to  some  men  all." 

CBABBS. 

LET  the  reader  imagine  it  is  Sunday  morning.  The  bells 
are  tolling,  and  the  good  church-going  people  of  Boston  are 
wending  their  way  to  the  various  places  of  worship  which 
are  open  for  religious  services.  Suppose  we  spend  an  hour 
this  forenoon  at  the  Melodeon,  and  hear  the  celebrated 
philanthropist  who  usually  preaches  there. 

Mr.  Parker  is  seated  in  an  arm-chair  on  the  platform. 
A  Bible  and  a  bunch  of  flowers  are  on  the  desk  in  front  of 
him,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  before-hand  from  which  of  the 
two  he  will  select  his  text.  He  will  doubtless  glorify  the 
fragrant  and  beautiful  blossoms,  and  condemn  some  parts  of 
the  inspired  volume,  before  he  concludes  his  address.  See 
him  rise  slowly  and  walk  gently  toward  the  desk.  He  now 
leans  upon  it,  closes  his  eyes,  clasps  his  hands,  and  commen 
ces  prayer,  in  an  inaudible  voice.  Now  the  hoarse  whisper 
becomes  a  low,  murmuring  sound.  Now  you  hear  words 
and  a  whole  sentence  occasionally,  and  wish  you  had  come 
earlier  so  as  to  have  obtained  a  seat  nearer  the  preacher. 
Now,  by  opening  your  ears  and  watching  his  lips  attentively, 
you  can  hear  his  prayer  ;  but  if  God  is  not  present,  there  is 
no  one  there  who  understands  it.  It  abounds  with  smart 
3 


34  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

maxims,  deep  philosophical  reflections,  pious  acknowledg 
ments,  earnest  invocations,  and  reverential  promises. 

He  has  taken  his  text  and  commenced  reading  his  manu 
script.  His  voice  is  rather  husky,  and  his  thick  lips  seem 
unwilling  to  part.  He  now  speaks  louder  and  more  dis 
tinctly  ;  his  lead-like  eyes  begin  to  glow  with  genius,  and  his 
bald  head  seems  to  shine  transparently  with  thought,  while 
he  utters,  in  choice  and  classical  English,  sentiments  so  new, 
so  strange,  so  mighty,  and  so  mad  with  radicalism,  incorrigi 
ble  conservatives  are  offended.  He  is  a  moral  Columbus, 
who  discovers  whole  continents  of  thought,  and  is  sure  to 
cause  mutiny  in  the  ship  he  sails  in,  because  he  ventures  so 
far  from  the  dry  land  on  which  most  men  build  their  hopep. 
Indeed,  he  is  regarded  as  a  theological  corsair,  and  most  of 
our  great  guns  have  been  levelled  at  him,  but  he  sails  on 
uninjured,  amid  the  roar  of  their  opposition,  although  he 
frequently  endangers  his  own  immortal  life  by  mistaking  a 
whale's  back  for  a  green  island.  His  philosophy  and  his 
divinity  do  not  agree,  for  his  philosophy  is  more  divine  than 
his  divinity.  He  has  but  little  faith  in  any  part  of  Scripture 
that  is  not  apparently  susceptible  of  interpretations  favora 
ble  to  his  peculiar  views  of  religious  duty,  and  does  not 
hesitate  to  ridicule  those  passages  which  come  in  collision 
with  his  "  Utopian  "  doctrines.  In  this  way  he  unintention 
ally  destroys,  in  the  minds  of  many,  all  reverence  for 
religion,  and  obliterates  the  sense  of  moral  obligation.  If 
his  hearers  were  all  learned  philosophers,  his  lectures  would 
be  invaluable  to  them ;  but  they  consist  of  all  classes.  The 
wise,  who  sift  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  may  live  under  his 
teaching,  but  the  mass,  who  swallow  every  thing  he  offers, 
are  in  danger  of  suffering  all  the  pangs  of  spiritual  starva 
tion. 

He  is  a  true  and  thorough  reformer,  and  advocates  with 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  35 

great  zeal  and  greater  ability  the  peace  reform,  the  temper 
ance  reform,  the  anti-slavery  and  anti-hanging  reforms.  In 
the  course  of  his  sermon  he  is  sure  to  apply  the  rod  to 
"Uncle  Sam's  prize-fighters,"  the  Army  and  the  Navy. 
The  old  autocrat  Alcohol  will  be  flagellated  —  the  South  will 
receive  a  blow  here  —  the  church  will  get  a  whack  there  — 
and  the  gallows  will  be  kicked  over  yonder.  He  reminds 
one  of  the  school-masters  of  ancient  times,  but  he  serves 
great  men  as  they  did  little  boys.  Statesmen,  clergymen, 
aristocrats,  are  called  up  and  publicly  chastised,  if  they  do 
not  say  their  lessons  correctly.  A  few  days  ago,  Daniel 
Webster  had  to  hold  out  his  hand  and  feel  the  ferule  —  Gen. 
Cass  is  frequently  compelled  to  stand  on  the  dunce-block  at 
the  Melodeon  —  Foote  has  to  wear  the  cap  and  bells  every 
time  he  threatens  to  hang  or  shoot  his  fellow  Senators — he 
pats  Benton  on  the  shoulders  by  way  of  encouragement, 
when  he  speaks  for  freedom  —  John  P.  Hale  he  thinks  is  a 
precocious  child  of  great  promise  —  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson 
is  so  far  advanced  in  knowledge,  he  would  employ  him  as 
usher  in  his  school. 

Mr.  Parker's  matter  is  more  fascinating  than  his  manner. 
Indeed,  he  is  often  awkward  in  his  gestures  and  indistinct  in 
his  utterance,  but  he  has  the  happy  faculty  of  compressing 
a  volume  of  meaning  in  a  few  simple  words.  He  never 
appears  before  an  audience  without  giving  his  hearers  at 
least  one  drop  of  fragrance  which  contains  the  concentrated 
essence  of  a  whole  garden  of  roses. 

He  is  the  poor  man's  friend,  although  he  regards  poverty 
as  an  unmitigated  curse, —  and  would  never  be  like  the 
hypocrites  who  pass  by  on  the  other  side  when  humanity  is 
prostrate,  bleeding,  and  beseeching  help.  He  has  an  extra 
ordinary  share  of  moral  courage,  and  wages  war  like  a  hero, 
against  the  kingdom  of  scoundreldom.  He  is  fond  of  the 


36  CKATON     SKETCHES. 

company  of  the  gods,  and  talks  about  Mars,  Jupiter,  Nep 
tune,  as  though  they  had  been  his  school-mates  ;  is  a  mod 
ern  among  the  ancients,  an  ancient  amongst  the  moderns ; 
will  tell  you  with  perfect  coolness,  that  Paul  was  not  so 
good  a  writer  as  Socrates ;  that  Jesus  was  a  perfect  man, — 
that  by-and-by  there  will  be  other  men  as  perfect  as  Jesus  ; 
and  that  the  statutes  of  Moses  are  not  equal  to  those  of 
Massachusetts.  He  seems  to  spurn  what  he  cannot  fathom, 
and  condemn  what  he  cannot  comprehend.  He  doubts 
whether  Christ  could  perform  miracles  because  he  cannot 
perform  miracles  himself;  thinks  inspiration  is  reason  mag 
netized, —  the  Bible  an  interesting,  but  not  always  relia 
ble  history  of  the  Jews, —  the  popular  religion  of  the  times 
a  delusive  sham ;  loves  to  trace  human  progress  from 
the  barbarous  ages  to  the  present  time,  and  then  look  for 
ward  to  a  golden  future.  Were  he  to  manifest  more  rever 
ence  for  the  truths  of  revelation,  and  show  that  he  placed  as 
much  faith  in  God  as  he  does  in  man,  he  would,  with  his 
varied  learning  and  great  talents,  accomplish  an  immeasura 
ble  amount  of  good ;  and  many  young  men  who  have  more 
faith  in  a  newspaper  than  they  have  in  the  New  Testament, 
would  endorse  its  sentiments  and  follow  the  precepts  of  that 
heavenly  guide. 

Mr.  Parker  is  a  chaste  and  elegant  writer,  his  works  are 
widely  circulated  and  read  by  scholars  on  both  continents. 
Although  he  is  denounced  as  an  infidel  by  his  opponents,  he 
certainly  behaves  like  a  Christian  in  his  private  intercourse 
with  his  fellow  men.  He  thinks  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  so  sacred  as  man,  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  he 
hates  flogging  in  the  Navy,  and  is  opposed  to  hanging,  and 
oppression,  and  intemperance,  and  the  butchery  of  the 
battle-field. 

He  is  upwards  of  forty  years  of  age,  rather  under  the 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  37 

medium  stature,  head  large  and  bald,  and  his  face  dull,  until 
he  becomes  animated  before  an  audience ;  is  quite  popular 
as  a  lyceum  lecturer,  and  is  in  great  demand  during  the 
lecturing  season. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  though  wrong  in  theory,  is 
right  in  practice,  and  has  courage  enough  to  seize  the  social 
and  public  evils  by  the  throat.  We,  as  a  community,  are 
deeply  indebted  to  him  for  his  efforts  to  improve  the  condi 
tion  of  the  unfortunate.  He  "  goes  "  for  baths,  ventilators, 
hard  beds,  coarse  food,  cold  water,  and  cheerfulness,  and 
"goes"  against  tobabco, hot  slops,  quack  medicines,  thin  shoes, 
and  tight  lacing;  hates  bigotry,  gluttony,  drunkenness, 
poverty,  war,  and  slavery,  and  loves  purity,  fidelity,  liberty, 
equality,  fraternity.  He  is  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
gifted  men  in  America,  and  is  a  better  Christian  than  some 
of  his  bigoted  detractors,  who  say  he  is  like  Noah's  carpen 
ters,  who  built  a  ship  for  other  folks  to  sail  in,  and  yet  were 
drowned  themselves. 


3* 


JOHN   GREENLEAF  WHITTIER. 


"  THERE,"  said  our  driver,  "  is  the  birth-place  of  John  G. 
Whittier,"  when  he  pointed  to  a  plain  farm-house  on  the 
edge  of  the  town  of  Haverhill,  situated  a  short  walk  from 
the  roadside, —  or,  as  the  poet  himself  describes  the  old 
homestead, — "  Our  farm  house  was  situated  in  a  lonely 
valley,  half  surrounded  with  woods,  with  no  neighbors  in 
sight." 

Soon  after  my  arrival  at  the  busy  and  beautiful  village  of 
Amesbury,  where  the  great  poet  of  humanity  now  lives,  I 
ascertained  his  whereabouts,  and  gave  him  a  letter  of  intro 
duction,  written  by  our  mutual  friend,  W.  A.  "W ,  an 

untiring  co-laborer  in  the  work-field  of  reform.  I  found 
him  at  home,  in  his  modest  little  Quaker  cottage,  where  his 
friends  and  visitors  are  sure  to  meet  with  a  kind  reception. 
On  the  adjoining  lot  is  another  nest  in  the  bushes,  where  a 
family  of  singers  give  vocal  utterance  to  the  poetry  Whittier 
writes.  Mr.  W.  responded  to  the  rap  at  the  door,  and  invi 
ted  me  to  take  a  chair  in  a  plain,  neat  room,  which  com 
mands  a  view  of  a  large  and  beautiful  garden,  where  he 
spends  a  share  of  his  leisure  time,  when  his  health  will  per 
mit  him  to  work  there.  He  gave  me  an  introduction  to  his 
excellent  mother,  and,  after  a  little  chat  on  the  common 
topics  of  conversation,  politely  invited  me  to  remain  and 
take  tea  with  him. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  39 

I  knew  quite  well  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  one  of 
the  purest-minded  and  most  gifted  men  in  America ;  a  man 
whose  name  and  fame  are  world- wide,  and  "as  familiar  as 
household  words  ; "  a  man  whose  mighty  thoughts  are  winged 
with  words  of  fire  ;  but  he  was  so  unassuming,  so  accessible, 
so  frank,  and  so  well  "  posted  up  "  on  all  matters  of  news, 
that,  whatever  subject  is  broached,  one  feels  at  home  in  the 
presence  of  a  friend,  while  conversing  with  him.  This 
eminent  poet  of  the  slave  is  about  forty  years  of  age. 
His  temperament  is  nervous-bilious ;  is  tall,  slender,  and 
straight  as  an  Indian ;  has  a  superb  head ;  his  brow  looks 
like  a  white  cloud,  under  his  raven  hair ;  eyes  large,  black 
as  sloes,  and  glowing  with  expression.  He  belongs  to  the 
society  of  Friends,  and  in  matters  of  dress  and  address,  he 
is  a  Quaker  of  "  the  strictest  sort."  Should  a  stranger  meet 
him  in  the  street,  with  his  collarless  coat  and  broad-brimmed 
hat,  he  would  not  discover  anything  remarkable  in  his  ap 
pearance,  certainly  would  not  dream  that  he  had  seen  the 
Elliott  of  America.  But,  let  him  uncover  that  head,  and  see 
those  star-like  eyes  flashing  under  such  a  magnificent  fore 
head,  and  he  would  know,  at  a  glance,  that  a  great  heart,  a 
great  soul,  and  a  great  intellect,  must  light  up  such  a  radiant 
frontispiece.  His  fellow  townsmen  are  proud  of  his  fame, 
and  well  they  may  be,  for  Amesbury  will  be  known  all  over 
the  world,  to  the  end  of  time,  as  the  residence  of  John  G. 
Whittier,  "  the  poet  of  the  poor." 

Wherever  he  discovers  the  talisman  of  intellect  he  recog 
nizes  a  brother  ;  "  though  his  skin  and  bones  were  of  the 
color  of  night,  they  are  transparent,  and  the  everlasting 
stars  shine  through  them  with  attractive  beams."  He  knows 
that  complexion  is  not  a  crime,  crisped  hair  is  not  a  sin, 
thick  lips  are  not  a  transgression,  and  he  has  bared  his  arms 
to  avert  the  blow  that  would  plough  the  quivering  flesh  of 


40  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

the  toil-worn  slave.  He  has  heard  the  wail  of  the  distracted 
mother,  who,  like  Rachel,  refuses  to  be  comforted  because 
her  child  has  been  torn  from  her  bosom  and  sold  into  hope 
less  servitude,  where  her  eye  cannot  pity  its  sorrows,  where 
her  hand  cannot  alleviate  its  distress  ;  and  he  has  denounced 
such  fiendish  cruelty  with  an  eloquence  and  pathos  approxi 
mating  to  inspiration.  He  has  seen  hollow-hearted  states 
men  tear  the  stripes  from  our  flag  and  put  them  on  the 
backs  of  our  countrymen,  and  he  has  spiced  sheets  that  will 
preserve  such  mummies  in  the  amber  and  pitch  of  infamy 
forever.  He  has  seen  the  fugitive  flying  from  the  house  of 
bondage,  with  hunters  and  blood-hounds  on  his  track  in  hot 
pursuit,  and  he  has  shouted,  "  God  speed  the  slave ! "  until 
lungless  echo  has  repeated  the  cry  on  every  hill-top  of  the 
free  North.  He  has  seen  where  the  red-hot  branding-iron 
has  been  pressed  on  the  shrinking  flesh  of  a  freeman's 
hand,  until  the  sizzling  blood  spouted  from  the  wound, 
and  the  angel  of  his  muse  touched  his  lips  with  a 
burning  coal  from  the  altar  of  God,  whilst  he  immortalized 
the  patient  hero,  and  annihilated  everything  but  the  damna 
ble  infamy  of  the  heartless,  soulless  persecutors. 

Mr.  Whittier  is  a  sincere  lover  of  truth  and  right,  and  his 
language  is,  "  In  vain  and  long,  enduring  wrong,  the  weak 
may  strive  against  the  strong,  but  the  day  shall  yet  appear, 
when  the  might  with  the  right  and  the  truth  shall  be,  and 
come  what  there  may  to  stand  in  the  way,  that  day  the 
world  shall  see."  (Pardon  my  drawing  the  lines  into 
prose.  I  quote  from  memory,  and  fear  I  might  do  still 
greater  injustice  to  the  author  by  measuring  the  sentiment 
off  into  verse.)  Such  men  as  he,  are  excluded  from  the 
South,  but  slaveholders  can  no  more  keep  out  his  sentiments 
than  the  fool  could  keep  the  wind  out  of  the  barn-yard  by 
closing  the  gate.  Judging  by  the  emotions  excited  by  his 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  41 

writings,  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  he  usually  writes 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  but  a  certain  magazine  publisher, 
whose  likeness  accompanied  one  of  the  numbers  of  his  mag 
azine,  can  testify  that  his  satire  punishes  like  the  sting  of  a 
scorpion.  Read  the  following  lines  :  — 

"  A  moony  breadth  of  virgin  face, 

By  thought  unviolated, 
A  patient  mouth  to  take  from  scorn 

The  hook  with  bank-notes  baited,— 
Its  self-complacent  sleekness  shows 

How  thrift  goes  with  the  fawner, 
An  unctuous  unconcern  for  all, 

Which  nice  folks  call  dishonor." 

An  eminent  statesman  will  find  it  difficult  to  outlive  the 
following  lines :  — 

"  So  fallen,  so  lost !  the  light  withdrawn 

Which  once  he  wore ! 
The  glory  from  his  grey  hairs  gone 
Forever  more. 

Let  not  the  land  once  proud  of  him 

Insult  him  now, 
Nor  brand  with  deeper  shame  his  dim, 

Dishonored  brow. 

But  let  its  humbled  sons  instead, 

From  sea  to  lake, 
A  long  lament  as  for  the  dead, 

In  sadness  make. 

Then  pay  the  reverence  of  old  days 

To  his  dead  fame ; 
Walk  backward  with  averted  gaze, 

And  hide  the  shame." 

Whittier's  poetry  is  eloquence  measured  with  a  golden 
reed,  logic  on  fire,  pathos  crying  in  the  notes  of  the  nightin 
gale,  philosophy  playing  on  the  harp,  humor  laughing  in 
numbers,  wit  rained  down  from  heaven  in  a  shower  of  stars. 
His  writings  are  not  free  from  imperfections  of  style  and 


42  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

sentiment;  but  men  seldom  notice  pebbles  while  they  look  at 
the  lights  in  the  cerulean  arch  above.  He  is  the  author  of 
several  volumes  of  prose,  which  are  widely  circulated.  His 
verses  are  full  of  philosophy,  beauty,  and  sublimity.  He 
sympathizes  with  the  unfortunate,  and  chastises  the  oppressor 
with  a  whip  of  adders.  In  some  of  his  patriotic  appeals 
he  reminds  us  of  the  old  prophets.  Had  Isaiah  lived  in  these 
times,  he  might  have  written  the  following  lines  without 
impairing  his  reputation  :  — 

"  Now,  by  our  fathers'  ashes !  Where's  the  spirit 

Of  the  true-hearted  and  the  unshackled  gone  ? 
Sons  of  the  old  freemen,  do  we  but  inherit 
Their  names  alone  ? 

Is  the  old  Pilgrim  spirit  quenched  within  us  ? 

Stoops  the  proud  manhood  of  our  souls  so  low 
That  mammon's  lure  or  party's  wile  can  win  us 
To  silence  now  ? 

No !    When  our  land  to  ruin's  brink  is  verging, 

In  God's  name  let  us  speak  while  there  is  time ! 
Now,  when  the  padlocks  for  our  lips  are  forging, 
SILENCE  id  CBIME!  " 

Some  of  his  best  poems  have  been  published  in  beautiful 
style  in  Boston  lately,  but  the  work  is  so  expensive  the 
masses  are  not  able  to  buy  it.  His  writings  do  not  need 
such  costly  embellishments  to  be  appreciated,  any  more  than 
the  sun  needs  a  stained  window  through  which  to  shine. 
The  lark  and  the  nightingale  need  not  the  costume  of  the 
peacock  to  ensure  admiration.  Mr.  Whittier  is  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  National  Era,  and  I  may  say,  in  whisper,  to 
the  ladies,  he  is  a  —  bachelor. 


NEAL   DOW. 


THE  man  who  has  the  talent  to  frame  and  the  courage  to 
execute  the  Maine  Law,  deserves  to  be  honored  and  remem 
bered  by  every  patriot  and  philanthropist  in  our  broad  free 
land.  Neal  Dow  is  the  Kossuth  of  the  temperance  revolu 
tion,  and  his  name  is  already  registered  in  the  book  of  fame, 
"among  the  few,  the  immortal  names  not  born  to  die." 
Poets  sing  his  praise,  painters  put  his  shadow  on  their  can 
vass  —  historians  record  his  deeds,  and  multitudes  of  appre 
ciating  mothers  will  call  their  children  by  his  name. 

We  wrote  pledges,  made  speeches,  obtained  signatures, 
formed  societies,  and  framed  laws,  to  suppress  intemperance  ; 
we  tried  moral,  magnetic,  Bible,  and  ballot-box  suasion  ;  we 
plead,  and  prayed,  and  promised,  and  did  incalculable  good, 
but  failed  to  accomplish  the  entire  extinction  of  the  rum 
traffic,  the  object  so  devoutly  desired.  We  were  brought  to 
a  moral  Panama,  with  a  gulf  of  billows  rolling  between  us, 
and  a  golden  California  beyond,  without  bridge  or  boat  to 
carry  us  safely  over  to  the  land  of  promise,  when  Neal 
Dow,  who  understood  every  rope  in  the  ship,  took  the  helm 
and  piloted  our  storm-beaten  vessel  into  the  harbor  of 
safety. 

Yes,  a  private  citizen  of  Maine,  possessing  the  stern  will 
and  Puritan  zeal  "  of  the  earlier  and  better  day,"  arose  in 
the  dignity  of  conscious  strength,  and  with  the  sweep  of  his 


44  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

strong  arm  wiped  away  the  stain  of  black  intemperance  from 
the  State.  Without  the  aid  of  the  Army  or  the  Navy,  he 
routed  the  most  formidable  and  dangerous  enemy  that  could 
assail  the  Commonwealth. 

Lean  and  pallid  avarice,  haggard  appetite,  stupid  igno 
rance,  bloated  bigotry,  devilish  demagogueism,  stood  in  his 
way,  clad  to  the  teeth  in  armor,  but  he  feared  them  no  more 
than  Bunyan's  Christian  feared  the  beasts  he  met  on  his 
way  to  the  Celestial  city.  He  extinguished  the  fires  of  the 
only  distillery  in  the  State,  and  wrote  tekd  on  the  walls  of 
every  wine  palace  in  Maine.  Who  is  this  modern  Moses 
who  smote  the  RED  SEA  with  the  rod  of  the  law,  so  that  the 
people  can  travel  dry-shod  ?  He  is  a  man  who  has  a  head 
to  think,  a  heart  to  feel,  a  tongue  to  explain,  and  a  hand  to 
execute ;  is  respectably  educated,  not  learned,  comfort 
ably  independent,  not  a  millionaire ;  speaks  conversation 
ally,  not  eloquently ;  is  a  plain,  practical  man,  with  a 
strong  mind  and  an  iron  will.  Had  he  lived  in  the  days  of 
Cromwell,  he  would  have  been  a  leader  in  the  battered  band 
that  fought  side  by  side  with  the  "  Usurper."  He  speaks  as 
one  having  authority,  and  looks  like  one  born  to  command. 
He  is  in  the  meridian  of  life  —  about  five  feet  seven  inches 
in  height,  and  well  proportioned ;  has  dark  hair,  a  square 
forehead,  which  does  not  at  first  glance  indicate  more 
than  a  mediocrity  of  mind  ;  eye-brows  are  rather  ponderous, 
cheek  bones  somewhat  prominent,  complexion  dark.  The 
peculiar  form  of  the  mouth  and  chin  pronounce  him  a  man 
of  obstinate  firmness.  There  is  a  sort  of  come  on,  I  am 
ready  for  you,  look  about  his  face,  which  affords  unmistake- 
able  evidence  that  he  will  not  countenance  the  liquor  trade. 
He  looks  as  though  he  could  chase  a  thousand  rum  sellers, 
and  with  the  aid  of  the  Maine  Law,  put  ten  thousand  to 
flight. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  45 

Neal  Dow  is  the  son  of  a  Quaker,  and  surely  he  fights 
valiantly  for  one  who  has  been  trained  to  observe  the  prin 
ciples  of  peace.  He  does  not  claim  religious  relationship 
with  any  sect,  but  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  truths  of  Divine 
Revelation,  and  observes  devotional  duties  in  his  family. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  identified  with  the  temperance 
movement  in  Maine,  (his  native  State,)  where  he  has 
labored  and  lectured  gratuitously,  for  the  welfare  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  Frequently  has  he  appeared  before  the 
Legislature  with  petitions  praying  for  laws  so  stringent  as  to 
prohibit  the  liquor  trade,  and  finally  he  succeeded  in  cutting 
out  some  work  for  his  country. 

He  is  a  tanner  by  trade,  and  although  he  has  (I  may  be 
misinformed)  retired  from  business,  he  has  left  the  hides  of 
many  rumsellers  on  the  fence.  "Wonder  if  they  would  not 
make  good  shoes,  since  they  are  water  proof !  There  is  not 
a  lawyer  in  the  land  who  could  have  drafted  a  better  bill 
than  that  which  has  so  effectually  excommunicated  intemper 
ance  from  the  glorious  State  which  is  the  nearest  to  the 
golden  gates  of  sunrise.  The  Law  declares  that  intox 
icating  drinks  shall  not  be  made  and  sold,  to  be  used  as  a 
beverage,  in  Maine  —  that  an  agent  shall  be  appointed  in 
each  city  or  town  to  sell  spirits  for  mechanical  and  medicinal 
purposes  only  —  that  common  sellers  shall  be  heavily  fined 
and  imprisoned  for  persisting  in  violating  the  law  —  that  no 
lawless  rum  seller  shall  be  allowed  to  sit  as  a  juror  on  a 
rum  suit  —  that  liquors  may  be  searched  for,  seized  and  de 
stroyed  —  that  in  case  of  appeal,  bonds  must  be  given  that 
the  case  will  be  prosecuted,  and  if  the  judgment  goes  against 
the  defendant,  he  must  pay  double  the  fine  and  suffer  double 
the  imprisonment,  &c.,  &c.  Read  the  law,  it  is  a  good  one. 
It  has  not  been  pared  down  by  abridgment,  or  patched  up 
with  amendments.  It  is  the  people's  law,  and  not  the  law 
4 


46  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

of  politicians.  It  is  a  terror  to  those  who  do  ill,  and  a 
praise  to  those  who  do  well.  It  is  a  fire  annihilator,  and 
works  well  out  doors  or  in,  and  the  effect  is  the  same 
whether  the  building  be  a  small  one  or  a  large  one.  Suc 
cess  to  the  MAIN  LAW,  which  is  the  Law  of  Maine. 


GERRIT    SMITH. 


ON  my  return  from  the  West,  I  called  to  see  that  gener 
ous  philanthropist,  eminent  orator,  and  impracticable  radical, 
Gerrit  Smith.  I  found  him  in  his  office,  pen  in  hand,  at  his 
writing-desk.  When  he  read  my  note  of  introduction,  he 
remarked  that  he  was  familiar  with  my  name,  and  supposed 
I  was  a  much  older  man.  He  politely  invited  me  to  avail 
myself  of  his  hospitality.  I  did  so,  and  had  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  him  at  home. 

Mr.  Smith  lives  in  a  small  white  house,  about  two  miles 
distant  from  the  village  of  Peterboro'.  It  is  plainly  and 
sparingly  furnished.  There  are  no  luxurious  sofas  upon 
which  to  lounge,  no  costly  carpets  upon  which  to  tread,  no 
costly  mirrors  at  which  to  gaze.  Everything  about  his  resi 
dence  partakes  of  the  useful  rather  than  the  ornamental.  I 
found  him  an  accessible,  sociable,  pleasant  man,  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  history  of  the  reformers  and  the  reforma 
tory  movements  of  the  present  day. 

It  is  well  known  that  this  distinguished  man  stands  at  the 
head  of  the  most  radical  class  of  reformers.  Indeed  he  stands 
out  so  far  in  front  of  his  age  that  slow-moving  conservatives 
cannot  appreciate  the  man  nor  his  motives.  He  denounces 


48  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

rum-patronising  and  pro-slavery  churches ;  consequently  all 
the  anathema  maranathas  of  unsympathizing  and  unsancti- 
fied  professors  of  religion  are  hurled  at  his  head,  and  he  is 
condemned  as  an  infidel,  whereas  he  evidently  is  an  humble 
and  devoted  follower  of  Christ.  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them."  He  asks  a  blessing  at  his  table.  Night  and 
morning  he  lays  the  sacrifice  of  a  broken  and  contrite  heart 
on  the  altar  of  family  devotion.  Every  day  he  carefully 
studies  the  Scriptures  ;  and  manifests  his  love  to  God  whom 
he  has  not  seen,  by  his  love  toward  his  brother-man  whom 
he  has  seen. 

Few  men  have  done  more  than  Mr.  Smith  to  assist  the 
poor,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  feed  the  hungry,  reform  the 
drunkard  and  liberate  the  bondman.  The  hotels  owned  by 
him  in  different  towns  and  cities  in  this  country,  are  invari 
ably  rented  for  half  the  sum  liquor-landlords  would  pay  for 
the  same  premises.  In  this  way,  he  has  cheerfully  sacrificed 
thousands  of  dollars  to  promote  the  temperance  cause.  I 
have  not  mentioned  his  munificent  donations  and  eloquent 
lectures  directed  to  the  same  object.  This  model  man  gave 
three  thousand  farms  to  the  same  number  of  black  persons, 
and  now  he  offers  a  thousand  farms  and  ten  thousand  dollars 
to  a  thousand  white  persons  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Smith's  father  was  in  partnership  with  John  Jacob 
Astor,  at  one  period  of  his  life.  When  he  died,  he  be 
queathed  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch  three  quarters  of  a 
million  acres  of  land. 

In  point  of  intellect,  Mr.  Smith  ranks  with  such  men  as 
Clay  and  Benton.  His  mind  is  comprehensive  and  well 
cultivated.  His  temperament  volcanic,  but  usually  control 
led  by  an  acute  judgment.  As  an  orator  he  has  but  few 
superiors.  His  manner  is  deliberate  and  dignified  —  his 
matter  choice  and  classical  —  his  personal  appearance  noble 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  49 

and  attractive.  He  is  about  six  feet  tall,  and  of  perfect 
proportions  ;  forehead  high  and  broad ;  eyes  large,  dark,  and 
expressive ;  hair  brown,  and  cropped  close  to  his  head.  At 
the  time  I  saw  him  he  wore  a  suit  of  bottle-green,  and  his 
broad  shirt-color  lay  down  like  a  large  snow-flake  over  a 
black  neckerchief.  He  never  decorates  his  person  with  the 
tinselry  and  jewelry  of  fashion.  He  eats  plain  food,  sleeps 
on  a  hard  bed,  bathes  every  day,  drinks  nothing  but  cold 
water,  walks  from  four  to  ten  miles  a  day,  writes  from  fifty 
to  two  hundred  letters  per  week,  furnishes  long  and  labored 
communications  for  the  press,  speaks  frequently  at  public 
meetings. 

It  is  not  often  we  find  a  man  with  such  immense  wealth 
at  his  command,  sympathizing  as  he  does  with  his  less  fortu 
nate  fellow  men.  He  believes  that  man  is  as  much  entitled 
to  the  earth  as  he  is  to  air  and  water,  and  desires  to  see 
every  man  own  a  house  and  lot ;  is  opposed  to  tariffs, 
and  advocates  with  great  zeal  and  eloquence  the  doctrine 
of  free  trade ;  believes  there  is  "  a  good  time  coming " 
when  the  clarion  of  war  shall  cease,  and  the  olive-trees  shall 
grow  above  mouldering  bones  on  battle-fields ;  when  degrad 
ing  poverty  shall  hide  its  diminished  head,  and  smiling  com 
petence  shall  find  all  men  sitting  under  their  own  vines  and 
fig-trees,  none  daring  to  molest  or  make  them  afraid  ;  when 
slavery  shall  no  longer  bind  on  heavy  burdens  ;  when  intem 
perance  shall  be  among  the  things  that  were,  and  abstinence 
principles  shall  universally  prevail.  With  such  views,  it 
may  not  be  expected  that  he  always  travels  on  a  smooth 
road  and  sleeps  on  a  bed  of  roses.  He  stirs  up  the  old 
hornet-nests  of  hunkerism  and  awakens  the  slumbering  dog- 
kennels  of  conservatism,  so  that  he  frequently  hears  the 
buzzing  of  insects  and  the  baying  of  hounds. 

Unimprovable,  incorrigible  conservatives,  who  cling  to 
4* 


50  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

grey  old  customs  and  straight  roads,  who  hate  an  uneven 
pathway  although  it  may  be  the  safest  and  the  nearest,  re 
mind  one  of  the  rats  of  Norway,  that  travel  in  millions  from 
the  hills  toward  the  the  ocean.*  They  turn  neither  to  the 
right  nor  the  left,  but  gnaw  their  way  through  barns  and 
corn-fields,  swimming  or  sailing  over  rivers,  climbing  walls 
and  mountains,  sweeping  through  crowded  thoroughfares, 
tumbling  from  the  roofs  of  houses.  On,  on,  rolls  the  wave 
of  rats,  leaving  behind  nothing  but  dead  carcases  and  a  foul 
atmosphere.  Man  is  a  progressive  animal,  and  the  more 
conservative  he  is,  the  nearer  he  approximates  to  the  unin- 
tellectual  brute,  and  the  further  he  recedes  from  established 
laws.  God  made  man  upright,  and  furnished  him  with  a 
capital  of  bones  and  brains  with  which  to  commence  life. 
Experience,  observation  and  reflection  taught  him  that 
Winter  would  freeze  him,  Summer  scorch  him,  fire  burn  him, 
water  drown  him,  the  wild  beast  devour  him,  and  the  ava 
lanche  crush  him.  He  robed  himself  in  garments  to  protect 
him  from  the  cold  of  the  North  and  the  heat  of  the  South. 
He  built  a  house  for  his  comfort  and  protection.  He  domes 
ticated  the  dog,  the  cow  and  the  horse,  for  his  own  accommo 
dation.  He  dried  venison  and  fish,  sowed  seed  and  reaped 
harvests,  and  continued  his  progressive  movements  until  the 
rude  hut  became  a  stately  palace,  the  bark  canoe  a  mighty 
ship  with  sails  and  masts,  the  clumsy  cart  a  city  on  wheels 
drawn  by  steam-steeds  over  iron  roads.  Steam  is  our  horse, 
lightning  our  herald,  water  our  servant,  and  the  sun  our 
portrait-painter. 

Reform  tunnels  our  mountains,  levels  the  hills,  lifts  up  the 
valleys,  and  flings  its  floating  bridges  of  steel  and  steam  and 
flame  and  smoke  over  the  oceans.  Our  railroads  are  iron 

*  Carlyle. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  51 

bands  binding  us  in  the  bonds  of  universal  brotherhood. 
Our  electric  wires  are  so  many  nerves  of  sensation,  reaching 
from  the  body  politic  to  the  brains  of  society. 

Mr.  Smith  is  one  of  the  few  who  keeps  pace  with  the 
march  of  improvement,  and  he  heartily  employs  his  purse, 
pen  and  tongue  in  behalf  of  free  trade,  free  soil,  free  types, 
free  lips,  and  free  men.  He  believes  the  Constitution  is  an 
"  anti-slavery  document ; "  so  do  the  free-soil  abolitionists,  yet 
is  not  a  "  free-soiler."  He  believes  the  church  is  pro-slavery, 
and  on  that  question  agrees  with  the  Garrisonians,  but  he  does 
not  belong  to  that  party.  He  is  at  the  head  of  the  "  Liberty 
party,"  and  his  creed  embraces  every  degree  of  reform,  from 
the  use  of  cold  water  as  a  beverage  and  in  the  bath,  to  the 
emancipation  of  three  millions  of  men. 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE. 


THE  first  time  the  writer  saw  ABBOTT  LAWRENCE,  the 
great  cotton-lord,  was  in  Brattle  Square  church.  He  was 
standing  in  the  broad  aisle,  conversing  with  a  negro,  Avho  is 
a  brother  member  of  the  same  religious  society  to  which  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  belongs.  While  the  beauty  and  fash 
ion,  the  wealth  and  wisdom,  the  virtue  and  piety  of  that 
church  were  pressing  homewards,  the  distinguished  man  who 
is  now  at  the  Court  of  St.  James,  was  holding  a  brief  tete-a- 
tete  with  his  black  brother,  and  I  had  a  fine  opportunity  to 
take  his  portrait. 

Mr.  Lawrence  is  a  tall,  portly,  noble  and  dignified-looking 
man,  about  sixty  years  of  age.  His  head  is  bald,  and  shines 
as  though  it  came  fresh  from  the  hands  of  a  skilful  var- 
nisher  and  polisher ;  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  shining 
qualities  of  the  head  are  not  confined  to  the  exterior  of  the 
skull,  but  seem  rather  to  result  from  something  brilliant 
within.  He  has  a  calm,  pleasant  face,  indicating,  to  the 
minutest  line,  that  he  is  not  afraid  to  see  the  sheriff  or  the 
clamorous  creditor.  He  wore,  on  this  occasion,  a  thin  cravat, 
light  vest,  and  a  dress  coat  (I  think)  of  olive  green. 

I  saw  him  again  at  a  "  mass  meeting "  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
the  very  time  when  he  said  his  breeches-pocket  contained 
the  evidence  that  Gen.  Taylor  was  a  Whig!  The  old 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  53 

"  Cradle  of  Liberty  "  was  packed  with  people.  It  was  no 
easy  task  for  those  who  came  late  to  gain  admittance,  but, 
being  accustomed  to  crowds,  and  determined  to  see  and  hear 
the  speakers,  I  pushed  my  way  through  to  the  front  gallery, 
where  I  obtained  a  seat  and  a  view  of  the  platform.  Our 
subject  was  in  the  chair,  and  in  more  senses  than  one  he 
filled  it  well.  He  was  surrounded  by  men  well  known  to 
fame.  Some  of  them  were  acquainted  with  him  when  he 
was  a  poor,  awkward  boy,  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  in 
the  city  of  Boston.  One  of  them  told  the  writer  that  when 
Mr.  Lawrence  left  his  native  town  of  Groton,  he  came  to 
the  capital  of  Massachusetts  with  a  pair  of  buckskin  gloves 
on  his  hands.  It  was  during  the  Summer  season,  and  some 
of  the  city  gents,  laughed  at  the  verdancy  of  the  country 
lad.  That  he  afterwards  pulled  off"  his  gloves,  the  "  cities 
of  spindles"  he  has  erected  bear  the  most  unequivocal 
testimony. 

At  the  proper  time  he  arose  and  made  a  speech.  It  con 
tained  humor,  pathos,  and  logic  enough  to  be  interesting. 
He  is  more  of  a  business  than  a  literary  man ;  a  better 
financier  than  statesman,  and  would  never  have  been  more 
than  a  moderate  statesman  if  he  had  not  been  a  first-rate 
financier.  He  is  indebted  to  his  brains  for  his  money,  and 
to  his  money  for  his  honors.  He  went  through  the  mill  first, 
then  graduated  at  the  counting-house,  and  recently  journeyed 
to  London  as  minister-plenipotentiary. 

Mr.  Lawrence  is  a  magnificent  man.  He  does  everything 
by  wholesale  and  nothing  in  the  retail  line.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  murmuring  of  a  single  mill,  he  must  make  every 
idle  stream  turn  a  crank  for  him.  Look  at  Lowell  and 
Lawrence,  the  cities  erected  by  his  enterprise !  He  would 
not  be  Mayor  of  Boston,  but  he  would  like  to  be  President 
of  the  United  States ;  —  is  liberal  to  the  poor,  though  he 


54  CBATON     SKETCHES. 

will  not  allow  his  funds  to  filter  through  his  own  hands  to 
the  needy.  He  prefers  giving  a  large  sum  when  he  gives 
anything,  but  it  must  be  distributed  by  those  who  are  willing 
to  come  in  contact  with  the  sorrowing  and  distressed. 

Mr.  Lawrence  is  a  practical  business  man,  of  pleasing 
manners  and  polite  address.  Although  he  has  devoted  a 
large  portion  of  his  life  to  business,  he  is  familiar  with  the 
modern  history  of  nations,  and  knows  enough  respecting  the 
etiquette  of  courts  and  the  usages  of  diplomacy  to  fill  the 
station  he  occupies  with  credit  to  himself  and  honor  to  his 
country. 


WENDELL   PHILLIPS. 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS  is  the  Patrick  Henry  of  New-Eng 
land.  If  he  has  less  natural  eloquence,  less  thrilling  pathos, 
than  the  orator  of  the  Revolution,  he  has  more  polish  and  as 
much  power  of  origination.  He  is  a  ripe  scholar,  a  lawyer 
of  no  ordinary  calibre,  a  magazine  writer  of  considerable 
note,  and  a  reformer  of  the  most  radical  school.  He  is  the 
pet  speaker  of  the  East.  He  has  great  power  of  perception, 
sincere  sympathy  for  the  oppressed,  and  wonderful  command 
over  the  stores  of  varied  knowledge  treasured  up  in  his 
retentive  memory.  He  has  the  "gifts  that  universities  cannot 
bestow,"  the  current  com  that  cannot  be  counterfeited,  "  the 
prophet's  vision,"  the  poet's  fancy,  the  light  of  genius.  He 
is  at  home  on  the  mountain-top,  and  when  he  soars  skyward 
he  is  not  lost  among  the  clouds ;  has  all  the  sagacity  of  the 
man  of  business  united  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Utopian, 
and  seems  to  be  equally  related  to  Maia  the  eloquent,  and 
Jupiter  the  thunderer.  He  admires  the  eternal,  the  infinite, 
the  heaven-like,  the  God-approximating  in  the  nature  of 
man,  whatever  may  be  the  color  of  the  envelope  that  con 
tains  these  attributes. 

Mr.  Phillips'  speeches  have  in  them  the  breath  of  life  — 
hence  they  live  long  to  swell  the  bosom  and  make  the  heart 
throb.  "  He  does  not  go  to  the  lamp  of  the  old  schools  to 


56  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

light  his  torch,  but  dips  it  into  the  sun,  which  accounts  for 
its  gorgeous  effulgence."  He  is  something  of  a  metaphysi 
cian,  but  is  too  much  absorbed  in  the  work  of  revolution 
izing  public  sentiment  to  devote  his  attention  to  subtle 
research  and  profound  analysis.  He  makes  but  little 
preparation,  and  always  speaks  extemporaneously ;  conse 
quently  some  of  his  addresses  are  like  a  beautiful  damsel  in 
dishabille ;  then  his  quotations  are  ringlets  rolled  up  in 
papers,  and  the  main  part  of  the  lecture  like  a  loose  gown 
which  now  and  then  reveals  a  neck  of  pearl  and  a  voluptu 
ous  bust  of  snowy  whiteness  and  beautiful  proportions.  He 
is  often  brilliant,  never  tediotfs.  Sometimes  his  scholarship 
is  seen  conspicuously,  but  it  is  never  pompously  displayed. 

It  is  a  rich  treat  to  hear  Wendell  Phillips  speak  to  a  large 
and  appreciative  audience.  Let  the  reader  fancy  he  is  at  a 
mass  meeting  in  some  forest  temple.  The  sun  shines  as 
though  delighted  with  the  gathering ;  the  shy  birds  perch  in 
silence  on  the  neighboring  trees,  as  though  they  were  aston 
ished  at  the  proceedings ;  a  song  makes  the  welkin  ring. 
The  chairman  announces  the  name  of  a  favorite  speaker. 
A  genteel  man  steps  gracefully  upon  the  platform.  He  is 
neatly,  not  foppishly,  dressed.  A  pleasant  smile  illuminates 
his  noble  face.  He  leaps,  at  a  single  bound,  into  the  middle 
of  the  subject.  He  reasons,  and  his  logic  is  on  fire  ;  he  des 
cribes,  and  the  subject  is  daguerreotyped  on  the  retina  of 
memory  ;  he  quotes  from  some  classic  author,  and  the  ex 
cerpt  is  like  an  apple  of  gold  in  a  picture  of  silver  ;  he  tells 
a  story,  and  the  impression  it  gives  is  indelible  ;  he  makes 
an  appeal,  and  tears  flow  freely ;  he  declaims,  and  the  people 
are  intensely  excited ;  he  soars,  and  his  lips  are  touched 
with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar  of  inspiration.  Mr.  Phillips 
believes  in  a  "  higher  law,"  so  he  appeals  to  the  sense  of  the 
everlasting  hi  man.  "  He  plays  the  Titanic  game  of  rocks, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  57 

and  not  a  game  of  tennis-balls,"  and  yet  he  "floods  the 
heart  with  singular  and  thrilling  pleasure."  "  He  is  the 
primed  mouth-piece  of  an  eloquent  discharge,  who  presents,, 
applies  the  linstock,  and  fires  off;"  and  the  conservatives  who 
stand  with  their  fingers  in  their  ears,  are  startled  by  the 
report.  Is  there  a  mob?  his  words  are  like  oil  on  the 
troubled  billows  of  the  chafed  sea ;  he  rebukes  the  winds  of 
strife  and  the  waves  of  faction,  and  there  is  a  great  calm. 
The  serene  face  of  his  bosom-friend,  the  leader  of  the  league, 
is  radiant  with  smiles ;  the  severe  front  of  a  turncoat  or  a 
tyrant  present  begins  to  relax  ;  the  doughface  is  ashamed  of 
himself,  and  determines  that  hereafter  he  will  be  "  a  doer 
and  not  dough  ;  "  the  stiff-limbed  finds  a  binge  in  his  joints, 
and  his  supple  knees  bow  in  homage  to  the  speaker. 

But  I  must  find  some  fault,  or  I  shall  be  deemed  a 
flatterer.  Let  me  see  —  what  shall  I  say  ?  "  Oh,  he  is  an 
impracticable  radical;  he  goes  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  the  dismemberment  of  the  church,  the  destruction  of 
the  political^  parties."  In  this  he  is  partly  right  and  partly 
wrong.  The  Christian  should  do  for  Christ's  sake  what 
the  worldling  does  for  the  sake  of  humanity,  then  there  will 
be  no  necessity  for  such  a  reproof.  The  body  politic  should 
sever  the  leprous  limb  of  slavery,  and  then  America  would 
not  limp  so  as  to  become  a  laughing-stock  and  a  by-word  to 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  political  parties  at  the  North 
are  leavened  with  anti-slavery  doctrines,  and  it  is  hoped  they 
will  soon  rise  to  the  level  of  that  benevolence  which  will 
render  such  rebukes  unnecessary.  I  declare  it  is  difficult 
for  me  to  find  any  fault  in  him.  (  Reader,  you  may  be 
Herod,  but  I  cannot  be  Pilate,  and  consent  to  his  crucifixion. 
I  must  confess  that  I  love  the  man,  although  I  cannot  en 
dorse  all  his  creed.  It  is  a  pity  that  he  limits  his  usefulness 
5 


58 


CRAYON      SKETCHES. 


by  his  fierce  warfare  against  men  and  measures  that  are  too 
long  or  too  short  for  his  iron  bedstead. 

Mr.  Phillips  is  a  man  of  fortune,  and  one  of  the  distin 
guished  few  who  contributes  to  support  the  enterprise  in 
which  he  feels  an  interest  as  much  as  he  expends  in  sustain 
ing  himself  and  family.  Physically  he  is  a  noble  specimen 
of  a  man.  His  head  is  sparingly  covered  with  reddish 
hair, — 

"  The  golden  treasure  nature  showers  down 
On  those  foredoomed  to  wear  Fame's  golden  crown." 

A  phrenologist  would  pronounce  his  head  worth  more 
than  the  South  would  be  willing  or  able  to  give  for  it.  He 
has  large  ideality  and  sublimity,  hence  he  soars ;  large  com 
parison  and  causality,  so  he  reasons  by  analogy  ;  large  hope 
and  benevolence,  and  the  genial  sunshine  of  good-nature 
irradiates  his  countenance ;  large  firmness  and  adhesiveness^ 
and  he  abides  by  his  friends  through  evil  and  through  good 
report.  His  face  is  pleasant,  and  indicates  exquisite  taste, 
pure  generosity,  and  Roman  firmness.  He  is  now  in  the 
full  vigor  of  manhood,  and  ever  ready  at  a  moment's  warn 
ing  to  battle  for  what  he  deems  the  right.  "Woe  be  unto  the 
man  who  enters  the  arena  with  him,  for  he  wields  a  two- 
edged  sword  of  Damascus  steel.  Many  strong  men  have 
been  slain  by  him ;  yea,  many  mighty  men  have  fallen 
before  him.  \  Had  he  united  with  either  of  the  great  politi 
cal  parties,  he  would  have  been  chosen  as  a  champion,  for 
he  is  brilliant  as  Choate,  without  his  bedlamitish  idiosyncra 
sies  ;  clear  as  Clay,  without  his  accommodating,  compromis 
ing  disposition ;  learned  as  Winthrop,  without  his  bookish- 
ness  and  drawing-room  mannerism  ;  genial  as  Cass,  without 
his  dulness ;  fiery  as  Benton,  without  his  unapproachable 
self-sufficiency.  He  would  entertain  a  promiscuous  audience 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  59 

better  than  either  of  the  above-named  men.  He  is  not  so 
logical  as  Webster ;  not  so  luminous  as  the  ever-consistent 
Calhoun ;  not  so  learned  as  the  second  Adams  ;  not  so  thril 
ling  as  Kentucky's  favorite  ;  and  yet  he  is  a  more  instructive 
and  a  more  interesting  speaker  than  either  of  those  distin 
guished  men  ever  were,  even  in  their  palmiest  days. 

Wendell  Phillips  is  universally  esteemed  and  beloved. 
Even  those  who  hate  his  creed,  and  dread  his  power,  admire 
his  disinterested  kindness  and  irresistible  eloquence. 


PHILIP    S.    WHITE. 


EYERTBODY  said,  "  Let  us  go  to  the  great  meeting  at 
Tremont  Temple,  this  evening,  and  hear  Philip  S.  White, 
the  distinguished  champion  of  the  temperance  reform."  At 
the  appointed  hour,  that  magnificent  forum  was  filled  with 
the  wealth,  beauty,  talent,  and  moral  worth  of  Boston.  The 
immense  building  was  brilliantly  illuminated,  as  though  the 
sun  had  risen  behind  the  orchestra  and  concentrated  its  rays 
within  the  walls  of  the  Temple.  On  the  platform  were  some 
of  the  elite  and  literati  of  society,  —  authors,  orators,  and 
philanthropists.  After  the  usual  preliminaries,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  exercises,  skilful  fingers  touched  the 
magic  keys  of  the  mammoth  organ,  and  we  were  pleasantly 
entertained  with  sweet  strains  of  delightful  melody.  Some 
times  it  seemed  as  if  a  choir  of  soft-  voiced  maidens  was 
enclosed  behind  those  golden  columns,  singing  such  rich, 
lute-like  airs  that  angels,  on  their  mission  of  mercy,  might 
have  mistaken  that  place  for  the  gate  of  heaven.  Then  the 
heavy  bass  would  roll  like  a  wave  of  thunder  through  the 
large  hall,  startling  the  charmed  hearers  to  a  sense  of  the 
fact  that  they  were  still  under  the  clouds. 

As  the  music  subsided,  a  tall,  portly  man,  on  the  mellow 
side  of  fifty,  arose  to  address  the  audience.  "  Is  that  the 
man  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Order  of  the  Sons  of 


CKAYON     SKETCHES.  61 

Temperance  ? "  is  the  general  inquiry.  "  It  is,"  was  the 
response.  The  "observed  of  all  observers,"  on  this  occasion, 
is  a  person  of  good  mould,  somewhat  bald,  but  makes  up 
that  deficiency  by  a  luxurious  growth  of  whiskers,  which 
become  his  face  as  feathers  do  an  eagle.  He  has  a  large, 
aquiline,  Bardolphian  nose,  dark  eyes,  and  a  wide  mouth, 
indicative  of  eloquence  and  good  nature.  He  commences  in 
a  conversational  pitch  of  voice ;  face  dull  and  passionless  as 
marble ;  has  spoken  ten  minutes  without  saying  any  thing, 
and  the  sanguine  expectations  of  the  people  are  sadly  disap 
pointed.  The  hearers  bow  their  heads  like  bulrushes,  and 
some  would  leave  the  meeting  but  that  they  hope  for  better 
things.  He  is  not  quite  so  prosy  now  as  he  was  fifteen 
minutes  ago.  His  voice  is  deeper  and  clearer,  his  utterance 
more  rapid  and  distinct,  and  his  face  shines  as  though  it  had 
been  freshly  oiled.  There  is  a  resurrection  now  among  the 
bowed  heads ;  he  has  just  made  a  thrilling  appeal,  which 
moved  the  audience  like  a  shock  from  an  electric  battery. 
Now  he  relates  a  tale  of  pity,  which  is  drawing  tears  from 
eyes  "unused  to  weep."  Now  he  surprises  his  attentive 
hearers  with  an  unanticipated  stroke  of  humor,  which  makes 
them  laugh  until  they  shake  the  tear-drops  from  their 
cheeks.  All  are  glad  they  came  now,  for  the  orator  is  in 
his  happiest  mood,  his  blood  is  up,  and  his  tongue  as  free  as 
the  pen  of  a  ready  writer.  He  throws  light  on  the  question 
by  the  corruscations  of  his  attic  wit ;  drives  home  a  truth 
by  solid  argument,  and  clinches  it  by  a  quotation  from 
Scripture ;  convulses  the  auditory  by  using  a  ludicrous  com 
parison  ;  convinces  them  by  presenting  sober-faced  statistics  ; 
entertains  them  by  relating  an  appropriate  anecdote,  and 
fires  their  indignation  against  the  traffic,  while  the  rum- 
dealers  present  shake  in  their  shoes.  He  warns  the  drinkers 
with  a  voice  which  arouses  them  like  a  clap  of  thunder 
5* 


02  CEAYON      SKETCHES. 

through  a  speaking-trumpet.  In  a  word,  his  sparkling 
satire,  keen  wit,  eloquent  declamation,  happy  comparisons, 
classical  allusions,  rib-cracking  fun,  and  heart-melting  pathos, 
render  him  one  of  the  most  efficient  public  speakers  in 
America. 

Mr.  White  can  labor  a  syllogism,  or  tell  a  story,  with  the 
same  ease  that  Talleyrand  could  turn  a  coffee-mill  or  a  king 
dom.  He  goes  for  moral,  legal,  bible,  pocket,  and  ballot-box 
suasion.  His  inimitable  histrionic  powers  enable  him  to  tell 
a  story  admirably.  He  has  almost  omnipotent  power  in 
swaying  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  hearers,  when  he  is 
fairly  engaged  and  has  a  sea  of  crystal  faces  before  him. 
He  speaks  without  notes,  and  is  so  careless,  withal,  that  he 
preserves  no  minutes  of  his  speeches ;  consequently,  when 
he  responds  to  a  second  invitation  to  visit  a  place,  he  is  apt 
to  repeat  the  same  stories,  although  he  has  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  unused  material  always  on  hand.  He  has  studied 
human  nature  so  thoroughly  he  knows  how  to  reach  the 
hearts  of  the  masses.  If  the  people  will  but  listen  to  his 
lectures,  they  will  open  their  mouths  so  earnestly  he  could 
almost  reach  their  hearts  by  the  way  of  the  resophagus.  Mr. 
White  is  personally  known  on  the  green  mountains  of  Ver 
mont,  on  the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire,  in  the  pleasant 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi ; 
has  hosts  of  friends  at  the  sunny  South,  at  the  stormy  North, 
and  the  far-off  West.  Years  ago  he  made  the  tour  of 
Europe.  At  that  time  he  was  fond  of  luxurious  living  and 
unweaned  from  the  wine-cup ;  he  was  a  good  judge  of 
Otard  and  Madeira,  and  can  speak  from  personal  experience 
on  matters  pertaining  to  fashionable  drinking. 

Mr.  White  is  a  good  specimen  of  a  Kentucky  gentle 
man  —  gallant,  generous  and  urbane.  Indeed,  he  can 
accommodate  himself  to  any  company,  and  would  be  a  wel- 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  63 

come  guest  at  the  table  of  a  duke,  or  feel  perfectly  at  home 
in  the  cottage  of  a  peasant.  He  must  have  been  a  studious 
man  in  his  day,  but  he  has  bravely  overcome  that  habit 
now;  for  he  would  rather  hold  a  man  by  the  button  all 
day,  entertaining  him  by  telling  stories,  than  to  read  a  page 
or  write  a  "stick-full"  of  matter  for  a  newspaper.  When  he 
has  a  report  to  make,  he  will  throw  the  burden,  if  he  can 
possibly  do  so,  on  shoulders  not  so  able  to  bear  it  as  his  own, 
and  he  will  put  off  the  unwelcome  task  to  the  last  hour,  then 
dash  off  an  impromptu  report,  and  beauty  will  break  out  of 
statistics  and  facts,  like  flowers  on  the  rod  of  Aaron.  Some 
times  he  visits  Subordinate  Divisions  of  his  favorite 
Order,  as  well  as  Sections  of  the  juvenile  Cadets,  to  fire 
the  zeal,  strengthen  the  faith,  and  encourage  the  hopes 
of  the  "  Sons "  and  their  sons.  I  once  heard  him  address 
one  of  the  latter  societies  on  the  evils  arising  from  the  use 
of  tobacco,  but,  unfortunately,  he  had  that  evening  quite  a 
gathering  in  his  own  mouth,  which  somewhat  choked  his 
utterance.  The  not  altogether  unusual  swelling  somewhat 
disappeared  before  the  meeting  adjourned,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  by  this  time  he  has  got  entirely  rid  of  the  swelling. 

Mr.  White  is  good  company,  a  good  story-teller,  and  a 
terror  to  all  hypochondriacism  and  dyspepsia.  Blessed  are 
they  who  hear  his  voice  and  see  his  face,  for  they  shall 
laugh  and  grow  fat.  I  am  no  stickler  for  empty  dignity, 
but  remain  under  the  impression  that  Mr.  W.  is  not  so  dig 
nified  at  the  fireside  as  he  is  in  the  forum.  There  are  vul 
gar  persons  who  call  him  the  Hon.  Philip  S.  White  when 
they  speak  of  his  public  efforts,  and  yet  abbreviate  the  title 
to  Phil,  in  their  personal  intercourse  with  him.  He  is  no 
favorite  with  those  who  will  not  "  give  up  a  '  pint '  of  doc 
trine  nor  a  pint  of  rum,"  for  as  the  bottle-imp  of  Asmodeus 
unroofed  the  houses  of  Madrid,  for  the  gratification  of  Le 


64  CKATON     SKETCHES. 

Sage's  servant,  so  he  uncovers  the  hearts  of  those  whose 
bigotry  or  appetite  or  interest  oppose  the  temperance  refor 
mation.  Mr.  White  is  by  profession  a  lawyer,  and,  if  I  am 
correctly  informed,  was  at  one  period  of  his  life  Attorney 
General  of  one  of  the  Western  Territories.  He  is  proud  of 
his  lineage,  and  is  not  backward  in  speaking  about  his  for 
mer  position  in  society,  which  is  in  bad  taste,  since  he  is 
now  in  a  loftier  position  than  any  Baronet  of  England. 

The  fraternity,  I  think,  manifested  forecast  worthy  of 
their  trust  when  they  selected  him  to  be  their  leader,  for 
his  abundant  self-sacrificing  and  faithful  labors  in  this  coun 
try  and  in  the  neighboring  Provinces,  have  accomplished 
incalculable  good  to  the  cause  in  general,  and  won  unfading 
laurels  for  him  in  particular.  He  is  the  author  of  a  work 
entitled  the  "  War  of  Four  Thousand  Years,"  and  a  tract 
entitled  "  Vindication  of  the  Order."  It  is  a  pity  that  he 
did  not  give  a  more  Christian  name  to  the  first,  and  a  matter 
of  regret  that  he  went  into  partnership  with  others  in  writ 
ing  either.  His  admirers  would  like  to  see  a  book  from  his 
own  pen  and  know  that  he  wrote  it.  His  idea  of  a  national 
newspaper  organ,  to  be  managed  by  some  master-mind  of 
the  National  Division,  does  not  meet  with  general  approval, 
because  it  would  be  unwise  to  put  such  power  into  the  hands 
of  one  man ;  because  it  would  narrow  the  circulation  of  the 
local  papers  to  the  starving  point ;  because  one  sheet  would 
not  suit  every  meridian ;  because  the  temperance  press  now 
in  operation  is  not  properly  sustained ;  because  there  is  a 
much  editorial  tact  and  talent  connected  with  the  local 
press  as  can  be  found  in  the  National  Division ;  because 
monopolies  are  monsters  not  favorable  to  the  growth  of 
Love,  Purity  or  Fidelity,  the  characteristics  of  our  Order. 


JOHN  VAN  BUREN. 


PRINCE  JOHN  is  the  Duke  of  York,  the  distinguished  son 
of  King  Martin  the  First  ;  —  is  the  Jupiter  Tonans  of  his 
party,  the  Jove  of  jolly  fellows,  a  royal  roystering  republi 
can,  a  genius  and  a  good  fellow,  admired  and  adored  by  the 
masses.  He  can  accommodate  himself  to  the  society  of  the 
voters  in  the  "  Sixth  Ward,"  or  the  company  of  peers  with 
laced  gauntlets,  knights  in  golden  mantles,  or  presidents  at 
the  "White  House,"  without  losing  his  identity.  He  is 
John  Van  Buren,  and  nobody  else,  whether  he  be  sitting 
cheek-by-jowl  with  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  at  the  corner 
grocery,  or  debating  with  the  Cokes  and  Littletons  of  the 
law  in  chancery,  or  hugging  and  kissing  Queen  Victoria  in 
her  palace.  When  the  obese,  wheezing,  antediluvian  Hun 
kers  met  him  in  the  arena  of  combat,  he  attacked  them  vig 
orously  and  repulsed  them  with  great  (slaughter. 

This  apostle  of  the  "  young  democracy  "  bids  fair  to 
occupy  an  important  niche  in  the  Pantheon  of  the  present 
time.  He  has  a  philosophical  and  penetrating  mind,  which 
has  had  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  every  degree 
of  cultivation  —  in  the  palace  of  the  President  and  in  the  pot 
house  of  the  demagogue.  He  knows  there  are  zealots,  bigots, 
and  earnest  Christians  in  our  churches,  true  patriots  and 
truckling  sycophants  in  our  political  parties,  devoted  philan- 


66  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

thropists  and  hollow-hearted  pretenders  in  our  benevolent 
associations,  and  he  governs  himself  accordingly.  He  knows 
the  man-about-town,  and  permits  him  to  be  on  sociable 
terms,  for  that  comports  with  his  idea  of  republicanism. 
He  allows  the  hackman,  the  bar-tender,  the  wood-sawyer 
and  the  butcher-boy  to  call  him  Jack,  and  slap  him  on  the 
shoulder,  for  the  same  reason  the  sportsman  plays  with  his 
dogs  at  the  commencement  of  the  chase. 

John  Van  Buren  is  fond  of  the  chase,  and  he  will  hunt 
the  rats  to  the  barn,  and  then  set  the  buildings  on  fire,  for 
he  is  truly  a  "  barnburner."  Sometimes  he  has  to  contend 
with  eloquent  reasoners  and  men  of  imperious  talent.  On 
such  occasions  he  displays  great  versatility  of  mind,  search 
ing  analysis,  nice  taste,  sound  judgment,  vivid  fancy,  polished 
scorn  and  convincing  logic.  He  can  be  comic,  dramatic, 
energetic,  picturesque,  sedate,  seductive,  inductive,  and  de 
ductive.  He  punished  Croswell  (a  political  editor)  over  the 
remains  of  Silas  "Wright,  as  Marc  Antony  did  Brutus  over 
the  dead  body  of  Cassar ;  and  when  the  man  of  "  mighty 
pens  "  attempted  to  retreat,  he  got  his  "  foot  in  the  grating." 

At  a  mass  meeting  when  Prince  John  was  the  mouth 
piece  of  his  party,  one  of  the  "  unterrified  "  proposed  three 
cheers  for  Cass.  "  Oh,  do  n't,"  said  the  waggish  orator,  with 
a  look  of  mock  gravity ;  "  it  will  be  like  whistling  at  a 
funeral."  His  speeches  are  often  enlivened  with  caustic  wit 
and  unmistakable  homethrusts.  Sometimes  he  leads  his 
hearers  through  a  dead  level  of  political  history,  without 
either  song  or  story  to  change  the  dull  monotony  and  cheer 
the  impatient  hearer.  He  writes  clearly  and  forcibly,  re 
gardless  of  finish  or  ornament ;  has  as  much  shrewdness, 
adroitness,  and  world-wisdom  as  his  father,  but  less  secret- 
iveness,  less  suavity  and  less  dignity ;  can  excel  his  father 
at  stump  speaking,  but  cannot  equal  him  in  writing  a  mes- 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  67 

sage.  John  annihilates  his  enemies  by  the  simoon  of  his 
sarcasm ;  his  father  catches  them  in  the  trap  of  stratagem, 
and  compliments  them  into  bosom  friendship.  Indeed,  he  is 
an  unconverted  Paul,  pursuing  (not  persecuting)  hunkers 
(not  Christians)  to  strange  cities,  while  his  father  is  Abso- 
lom,  (without  the  locks,)  winning  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

Prince  John  is  a  favorite  among  the  ladies.  It  is  cur 
rently  reported  that  when  Queen  Victoria  presented  her 
lily-white  hand  for  him  to  kiss,  according  to  court  etiquette, 
he,  in  the  face  of  such  usages,  with  republican  gallantry 
folded  his  arms  around  her  neck  and  gave  her  a  hearty 
smack  upon  her  cheek.  It  is  also  said  that  during  his  wid 
ower-hood  he  paid  some  attention  to  a  lady  of  fortune  in 
Western  New  York,  and  once  upon  a  time,  when  they  were 
riding  on  horseback,  he  ventured  to  pop  the  question.  The 
lady  changed  the  subject  by  asking  him  to  overtake  her,  at 
the  same  time  giving  the  horse  a  hint  which  caused  him  to 
bound  forward  with  the  speed  of  the  wind.  John  was 
astride  a  livery  stable  hack,  and  was  soon  distanced,  and  not 
a  little  mortified  at  seeing  the  lady's  glove  upon  the  road ! 
If  it  be  true  that  this  distinguished  "  son  of  York "  has 
refrained  from  the  use  of  wine,  there  is  a  brilliant  future 
before  him.  He  is  so  frank,  so  generous,  and  so  gifted,  he 
is  the  man  the  people  will  delight  to  honor ;  but  he  must  not, 
like  Alcibiades,  deface  the  images  of  the  gods  and  expect  to 
be  pardoned  on  the  score  of  eccentricity. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  is  one  of  the  first  men  in  the  "  Empire 
State."  He  sustains  the  same  relationship  to  the  Demo 
cratic  party  that  Seward  holds  to  the  Whig  party.  In  per 
sonal  appearance,  he  is  a  tall,  spare  man,  with  a  "  locofoco- 
ish"  look,  somewhat  round-shouldered,  and  stoops  a  little 
when  he  walks,  as  though  he  had  to  bear  upon  his  back  the 
responsibility  of  the  party  he  lately  rejuvinated.  His  head 


68  CBATONSKETCHES. 

is  prematurely  bald,  and  the  scanty  supply  of  hair  that  is 
left  is  soft,  thin,  and  of  a  foxy  color,  and  has  that  phosphor 
escent  appearance  which  indicates  a  readiness  to  blaze  the 
moment  there  is  any  friction  of  brain  —  hence  his  flashes  of 
wit  when  he  is  rubbed.  He  is  about  forty  years  of  age,  has 
an  ample  forehead,  expressive  eyes,  and  a  countenance 
denoting  a  high  order  of  intellect. 

He  is  an  eminent  lawyer,  a  great  statesman,  a  progress 
politician.  There  is  a  sort  of  do  n't-care-a-copper-ativeness 
about  him,  a  reckless  spirit  of  dare-anything-ism,  which  is 
repulsive  to  the  amiable,  though  delightful  to  the  disciples 
of  rowdyism.  In  his  happiest  moods,  when  speaking  from 
the  tribune,  he  is  chaste,  classical,  philosophical,  and  the 
illuminati  become  his  enthusiastic  admirers.  He  only  needs 
the  graceful  polish,  the  serene  dignity  of  his  father,  added 
to  his  other  best  attributes,  to  render  him  one  of  the  most 
useful,  honorable  and  distinguished  men  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

That  he  is  destined,  if  his  life  is  spared,  to  hold  an 
important  relation  to  the  politics  of  this  country,  is  the  sin 
cere  belief  of  CKAYON. 


WILLIAM  A.  WHITE. 


So  long  as  the  writer  of  these  sketches  does  not  belong 
to  the  Mutual  Admiration  Society,  and  since  it  has  become 
fashionable  for  magazine  and  newspaper  publishers  to 
furnish  their  readers  with  their  own  portraits,  I  can  see  no 
earthly  nor  heavenly  reason,  why  a  contributor  to  the 
columns  of  the  New-Englander  may  not  give  to  the  public 
a  likeness  of  one  of  its  editors.  The  readers  of  this  paper 
have  a  right  to  see  a  pen-and-ink  daguerreotype  of  one  who 
talks  to  them  with  types  so  frequently,  so  plainly,  and  so 
eloquently. 

WILLIAM  A.  WHITE  is  thirty-three  years  of  age,  of 
medium  stature  and  good  mould.  His  temperament  is 
sanguine-nervous,  and  his  development  of  brain  indicates 
the  propelling  power  he  brings  to  bear  upon  the  reforma 
tory  movements  to  which  he  is  devoted.  He  has  brown 
hair,  which  is  parted  in  the  middle,  leaving  a  furrow  from 
benevolence  to  approbativeness.  His  eyes  are  blue,  com 
plexion  fair,  face  round,  fat  and  plump,  indicative  of  good 
digestion.  The  ladies  say  he  would  be  decidedly  handsome, 
were  it  not  that  he  disfigures  himself  by  allowing  such  an 
overgrowth  of  moustache,  imperial  and  goatee.  I  cannot 
account  for  his  antipathy  to  razors,  for  he  loves  everything 
else  that  is  sharp,  and  dislikes  whatever  is  flat,  —  which,  by- 
6 


70  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

the-way,  may  be  the  reason  he  cut  some  of  the  grandees  of 
his  favorite  Order  the  other  day.  If  he  makes  them  smart, 
he  will  do  more  for  them  than  their  parents  or  their  school 
masters  have  done. 

Although  Mr.  "White  is  a  young  man,  he  has  been  an  un 
tiring  and  unyielding  soldier  in  the  ranks  of  reform,  for  many 
years.  He  is  a  spontaneous  speaker,  who  can  rise  in  the 
presence  of  a  regiment  of  critics,  and  utter  his  sentiments 
unembarrassed,  though  all  the  reporters  of  the  press  were 
driving  their  quills  before  him.  If  the  Southern  "  Sons  " 
had  not  beforehand  fitted  that  gag  for  the  free  mouths  of  the 
North,  they  would  have  found  in  him  a  formidable  opponent 
to  the  obnoxious  measure  which  meets  with  such  unqualified 
and  universal  disapprobation  wherever  humanity  is  regarded. 
The  magnanimous  chivalry  of  the  mighty  South,  which 
appears  so  captivating  in  history,  and  so  splendid  in 
romance,  disappeared  on  this  occasion  and  looked  like 
Falstaff —  great,  swaggering  and  afraid  of  nothing  but  dan 
ger.  There  was  not  a  man  from  the  slave  side  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line,  who  could  have  stood  before  our  subject  in 
debate.  It  is  strange  that  men  who  have  whipped  so  many 
blacks  were  afraid  to  face  one  White. 

As  I  have  intimated,  the  senior  editor  of  the  New- 
Englander  is  a  fluent  and  forcible  speaker.  He  speaks 
better  than  he  writes.  He  is  an  enthusiast  in  reform,  and 
manifests  but  little  patience  with  wooden-head  conservatives, 
who  will  not  comprehend  what  they  cannot  count  with  their 
fingers,  nor  measure  anything  that  is  longer  than  a  yard 
stick.  With  such  men,  and  with  the  oppressors  of  our  race, 
whether  they  use  rum  or  the  raw-hide,  liquor  or  the  lash,  the 
cat  or  the  can,  he  has  no  fellowship.  When  he  writes  about 
them,  his  pen  foams  at  the  nib ;  when  he  speaks  about  them, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  71 

his  speeches  "  remind  us  of  some  rivers  that  are  sweet  in 
their  source,  but  bitter  at  the  mouth." 

Mr.  White  lacks  concentrativeness.  He  is  apt  to  fly  from 
one  subject  to  another.  He  needs  a  balance-wheel.  What 
Kleber  said  of  Napoleon  may  be  said  of  him  :  —  "He  had 
two  faults,  that  of  advancing  without  considering  how  he 
should  retreat,  and  of  seizing  without  considering  how  he 
should  retain."  When  convinced  that  he  is  right,  he  has  a 
sort  of  dare-demon  energy,  and,  like  Luther,  would  go  to 
the  Diet  of  Worms  to-day  were  he  sure  the  worms  would 
diet  on  him  to-morrow.  He  is  impulsive,  but  his  heart  is  so 
near  his  head  that  his  intuition  is  often  a  better  guide  than 
the  matured  judgment  of  some  men  of  greater  pretensions. 
A  flash  of  lightning  is  sometimes  of  more  service  in  the 
dark,  than  the  slow  moon  which  may  not  rise  from  behind 
the  cloud  in  time  to  avert  the  danger. 

Mr.  White  has  had  the  advantages  of  a  classical  educa 
tion,  and  his  distinguished  brother-in-law,  James  Russell 
Lowell,  the  great  poet,  was  one  of  his  classmates  in  college. 
He  studied  law  but  practiced  the  gospel,  and,  of  course,  re 
linquished  that  profession.  Although  connected,  like  Wen 
dell  Phillips  and  Edmund  Quincy,  with  some  of  the  first 
families  in  New  England,  he  cheerfully  and  modestly  iden 
tifies  himself  with  the  progress  parties,  whom  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees  of  this  generation  do  not  delight  to  honor. 
Doubtless  he  is  fond  of  fame,  but  he  will  not  sacrifice  his 
sentiments  to  obtain  it ;  like  Cato,  he  would  rather  have 
posterity  inquire  why  no  statues  were  erected  to  him  than 
why  they  were. 


EDWIN   H.   CHAPIN. 


EDWIN  H.  CHAPIN  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  eloquent 
expounders  and  defenders  of  the  doctrine  of  unlimited  sal 
vation.  He  has  no  faith  in  the  old  black  fellow  who  keeps 
the  fire-office.  He  imagines  that  poets  and  divines  give  him 
more  credit  for  sagacity  and  potency  than  he  deserves,  and 
that  if  he  ever  was  a  genius  he  is  now  in  his  dotage,  and 
furthermore,  that  he  has  not  goodness  enough  to  be  entitled 
to  our  respect,  nor  influence  sufficient  over  our  future 
destiny  to  alarm  our  fears.  To  him  a  devil  by  any  other 
name  is  just  as  dreadful,  and  the  Satan  he  endeavors  to  sub 
due  he  calls  Evil,  Sin,  Crime,  Vice,  Error.  He  thinks  the 
distillery,  where  the  worm  dieth  not  and  the  fires  are  un- 
quenched,  is  a  hell  on  earth  which  causes  weeping,  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

Mr.  Chapin  is  an  independent,  straight-forward  man,  who 
has  a  will  and  a  way  of  his  own,  and  he  is  willing  to  allow 
others  the  same  freedom  he  assumes  himself.  He  does  not 
expect  his  church  to  cough  when  he  takes  cold,  nor  to 
acquiesce  in  silent  submission  to  every  proposition  that  he 
makes.  He  is  not  a  theological  tyrant,  threatening  ven 
geance,  and  outer-darkness,  and  eternal  fire,  to  all  the  mem 
bers  of  his  flock  who  will  not  uncomplainingly  and  unhesi 
tatingly  yield  to  his  spiritual  supervisorship.  His  lessons 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  73 

and  lectures  may  sometimes  smell  of  the  lamp,  but  they 
never  smell  of  brimstone.  His  education,  his  temperament, 
his  organization  of  brain,  his  natural  benevolence,  and  the 
society  in  which  he  has  lived,  moved,  and  had  his  being, 
have  contributed  to  make  him  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  He 
advocates  with  heroic  courage  and  untiring  zeal  the  doctrines 
of  his  faith,  but  is  universally  respected  by  all  denomina 
tions  of  professing  Christians. 

Mr.  Chapin  is  happily  constituted.  The  animal  and  the 
angel  of  his  nature  are  so  nicely  balanced,  and  his  poetical 
temperament  is  so  admirably  controlled  by  his  practical 
knowledge,  that  his  intellectual  efforts  are  invariably  stamped 
with  the  mint-mark  of  true  currency.  There  is  harmoni 
ous  blending  of  the  poetical  and  the  practical,  a  pleasant 
union  of  the  material  with  the  spiritual,  an  arm-in-arm 
connection  of  the  ornamental  and  useful,  a  body  and  soul 
joined  together  in  his  discourses.  He  avoids  two  extremes, 
and  is  not  so  material  as  to  be  clodish,  of  the  earth  earthy, 
nor  so  serial  as  to  be  vapory  or  of  the  clouds  cloudy.  There 
is  something  tangible,  solid,  nutritious  and  enduring,  in  his 
sermons.  He  is  not  profound  in  the  learning  of  the  schools. 
Many  of  his  inferiors  could  master  him  on  doctrinal  ques 
tions.  The  outbursting  and  overwhelming  effusions  of  his 
natural  eloquence,  the  striking  originality  of  his  conceptions, 
the  irresistible  power  of  his  captivating  voice,  the  vivid  and 
copious  display  of  illustration,  thrill  and  charm  the  appre 
ciative  hearer.  He  presents  his  arguments  and  appeals  with 
an  articulation  as  distinct  and  understandable  as  his  gesticu 
lation  is  awkward.  He  is  sometimes  abrupt,  rapid  and 
vehement,  but  never  "tears  a  passion  to  tatters."  "  His  tena 
cious  memory  enables  him  to  quote  with  great  promptitude, 
and  he  has  that  delicate,  sensitive  taste  which  enables  him 
6* 


74  CRAYON    SKETCHES. 

to  select,  with  unerring  precision,  whatever  is  truly  sublime 
and  beautiful." 

Mr.  Chapin  declaims  splendidly,  in  spite  of  his  hands, 
which  are  always  in  his  way.  The  stiff  and  technical 
restraints  of  style,  which  disfigure  the  pulpit  efforts  of  some 
divines,  never  appear  in  his  sermons,  but  seem  rather  to 
pinion  his  elbows  and  cramp  his  fingers.  He  has  a  fervid 
imagination,  great  facility  of  expression,  is  scrupulously 
correct  in  his  pronunciation  ;  never  indulges  in  hypocritical 
cant.  There  is  no  theatrical  uplifting  of  the  hands  and 
uprolling  of  the  eyes,  so  frequently  witnessed  in  the  hysteric 
raptures  of  mahogany  orators.  He  seems  to  have  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject,  and  commands  your 
admiration  by  the  kingly  majesty  and  sublime  beauty  of  his 
thought.  Now  he  flings  a  page  of  meaning  into  a  single 
aphorism,  —  now  he  electrifies  his  spell-bound  hearers  with  a 
spontaneous  burst  of  eloquence,  —  now  he  dissolves  their 
eyes  to  tears  by  a  wizard  stroke  of  pathos,  —  now  he  controls 
their  hearts  with  the  sovereign  power  of  a  monarch  who  rules 
the  mind-realm.  "  He  infuses  his  soul  into  his  voice,  and 
both  into  the  nerves  and  heart  of  the  hearer." 

In  person,  he  is  stout,  fleshy  and  well-proportioned.  He 
has  a  full,  florid  face,  which  indicates  good  health  and  happy 
contentment ;  countenance  mild,  benignant  and  thoughtful, 
with  an  expresion  of  integrity,  denoting  his  inability  to  per 
form  a  mean  action ;  is  near-sighted,  and  this  defect  is  no 
small  disadvantage  to  him  when  he  reads,  and  may  account 
for  his  ungraceful  action  in  the  pulpit,  since  it  compels  him 
to  face  his  manuscript  so  closely  he  almost  eats  his  own  words 
and  salutes  his  own  rich  figures  and  glowing  sentiments,  and 
fulfils  literally  the  scripture  maxim,  "  He  shall  kiss  his  own 
lips  who  giveth  a  correct  answer."  As  I  have  just  intimated, 
he  usually  reads  his  discourses,  although  he  is  an  easy  extern- 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  75 

poraneous  speaker ;  but  he  is  apt  to  become  so  intensely  ex 
cited  he  rarely  trusts  to  his  impulses.  He  commands  a  very- 
ready  pen,  and  is  the  author  of  two  or  three  small  volumes, 
which  are  widely  circulated.  His  hair  is  dark  brown.  He 
wears  glasses,  so  I  cannot  tell  the  color  of  his  eyes ;  has 
a  broad,  high  forehead,  indicating  the  intellectual  strength  of 
its  owner ;  is  about  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  has  la 
bored  with  honor  and  success  for  many  years,  in  Richmond, 
Va.,  Charlestown,  Mass.,  as  well  as  Boston,  but  is  now 
preaching  in  the  city  of  New  York,  Avhere  he  is  very  popu 
lar  and  useful. 

I  must  be  pardoned  the  mention  of  one  fault.  He  is  care 
less,  sometimes  slovenly,  in  his  dress,  which  is  not  owing  to 
a  lack  of  taste,  but  to  the  fact  that  his  studies  absorb  his 
time  and  attention.  Since  he  has  possessed  a  "  better-half," 
there  has  been  less  manifestation  of  this  disagreeable  trait. 


CHARLES    C.    BURLEIGH. 


CHARLES  C.  BURLEIGH,  the  eccentric  and  eloquent  abo 
litionist,  is  brother  to  William  H.  and  George  Burleigh, 
the  celebrated  poets.  He  is  an  out  and  out  "come-outer  " — 
a  non-compromising  radical  —  a  splendid  scholar  —  an  off 
hand  orator.  He  is  not  so  genial  as  Garrison  —  but  has 
more  force  —  not  so  bitter  as  Pillsbury,  but  his  severity  has 
a  keener  edge  and  cuts  deeper  —  less  eloquent  than  Phillips 
but  more  logical  than  he  —  not  so  blunt  as  Foster,  but  like 
him,  he  is  a  plain-dealer.  His  best  thoughts  are  struck  out 
at  a  heat,  and  come  to  the  heart  winged  with  words  of  fire. 
There  is  thunder  and  lightning  in  his  logic  —  and  the  con 
cussion,  as  well  as  the  conclusion,  are  irresistible.  His  argu 
ments  are  not  betinselled  with  gauze  and  silver  spangles  ; 
it  is  pure  gold  that  glitters  in  his  speeches.  You  look  in 
vain  for  the  double  refined  essence  of  nonsense  and  affecta 
tion  with  which  literary  dandies  perfume  their  productions. 
There  is  a  smell  of  gunpowder  in  the  atmosphere,  and  a 
mighty  fluttering  of  game,  when  he  levels  his  gun  at  a  mul 
titude.  His  arguments  are  forcible  —  his  appeals  pathetic 
—  his  language  classical.  When  he  follows  an  opponent  in 
debate,  he  begins  at  the  beginning,  pursues  his  meander- 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  77 

ings,  and  sweeps  away  his  sophistry  as  gossamer  is  swept 
by  the  wind.  He  may  be  seen  selling  books  at  the  door  of 
the  building  where  the  convention  is  held,  one  minute,  and 
the  next  minute  he  may  be  seen  on  the  platform,  addressing 
an  audience  —  unmoved  by  the  cat-calls  in  the  gallery,  or 
the  scribbling  of  the  reporters  at  his  elbow.  He  speaks  right 
on,  as  though,  like  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  he  had  swallowed 
the  parchment  roll.  There  is  no  flaw  in  his  unpremeditated 
addresses  —  you  cannot  discover  any  welding  marks.  I  do 
not  set  him  up  "  too  steep,"  when  I  venture  the  assertion 
that  his  addresses  found  in  the  abolition  papers,  will  compare 
favorably  with  the  best  speeches  made  in  the  Senate  Cham 
ber  at  Washington.  Notwithstanding  his  superior  talents 
and  his  surpassing  power  of  language,  he  is  a  wild  man,  who 
ought  to  be  caught  and  shaved,  for  his  beard  stands,  or  rather 
hangs,  in  the  way  of  his  usefulness.  Unlike  Samson,  his 
weakness  is  in  his  hair,  and  he  could  better  slay  the  Philis 
tines  and  shake  the  pillars  of  the  temple,  if  he  would  permit 
some  one  to  crop  off  his  locks.  The  first  time  the  writer  saw 
him,  he  looked  like  a  madman  just  out  of  Bedlam  —  but 
he  spoke  like  an  Apostle  whose  lips  had  been  touched 
with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar  of  Inspiration.  I  have  seen 
him  frequently  since  that  time,  and  think  that  he  looks  bet 
ter  than  he  formerly  did — as  for  his  speaking,  his  last  effort 
is  always  the  best. 

Mr.  Burleigh  is  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  light  eyes  that  glow 
and  sparkle  when  he  speaks.  He  wears  a  golden  beard, 
long  enough  to  please  the  taste  of  the  most  fastidious  Naza- 
rite  ;  permits  his  hair  on  his  head  to  grow  long,  parts  it  in 
the  middle,  and  it  rolls  in  auburn  ringlets  over  his  narrow 
shoulders ;  dresses  plainly,  and  gives  abundant  proof  that 
dame  Fashion  seldom  or  never  replenishes  his  wardrobe. 
Is  somewhat  inclined  to  Quakerism  —  although  his  creed 


78  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

does  not  appear  in  the  brim  of  his  beaver  or  the  cut  of  his 
coat.  His  character  is  irreproachable.  He  has  labored 
untiringly  for  the  welfare  of  humanity  since  he  and  Theo 
dore  Weld,  and  a  band  of  kindred  spirits,  broke  loose  from 
Lane  Seminary. 


WILLIAM    H.   SEWARD. 


SENATOR  SEWARD  is  the  Daniel  O'Connell  of  America ; 
not  in  stature,  for  the  former  is  petit  —  the  latter  was  pro 
digious  ;  not  in  wit,  for  the  Yankee  seldom  perpetrates  even 
a  pun,  while  the  Irishman  was  a  "  book  in  breeches,"  and 
every  page  gleaming  with  wit ;  not  in  eloquence,  for  Seward 
requires  preparation  and  speaks  without  much  unction. 
O'Connell  spoke  spontaneously,  and  every  word  was  a  throb  ; 
not  in  faith,  for  the  defender  of  the  "  higher  law  "  is  almost 
a  Protestant,  while  the  Great  Agitator,  as  all  know,  was 
altogether  a  Catholic.  Yet  there  is  a  resemblance,  notwith 
standing  their  dissimilarities.  Seward  stands  at  the  tip  top  of 
his  profession  as  a  lawyer,  and  so  did  O'Connell.  Seward 
made  a  sensation  in  the  American  Senate  ;  O'Connell  did  the 
same  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Seward  identifies  him 
self  with  the  party  of  Freedom.  O'Connell  hated  slavery, 
and  "oppression  made  that  wise  man  mad."  Seward  is 
charged  with  demagogueism.  O'Connell  made  himself  all 
things  to  some  men  that  he  might  gain  some.  Seward  has 
won  the  sympathies  of  the  masses  and  is  the  pet  of  the  lib 
erty-loving  people  of  the  North.  O'Connell  was  the  idol  of 
Ireland,  and  his  memory  will  ever  live  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen.  Seward  is  dreaded  as  much  by  the  Old  Hunk 
ers  of  this  country,  as  O'Connell  was  feared  by  the  tyrant 


80  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

Tories  of  Great  Britain.  Seward  split  the  Whig  party  ;  so 
did  O' Conn  ell.  Seward  is  a  practical  temperance  man  ; 
O'Connell  was  a  pledged  tee-totaller.  Seward  would  like  to 
be  President  of  the  United  States  ;  O'Connell  desired  to  be 
King  of  Ireland.  Seward  is  a  great  man  among  great  men. 
He  is  not  so  volcanic  as  Benton, — not  so  logical  as  Webster, 
— not  so  eloquent  as  Clay, —  not  so  brittle  as  Foote, —  not  so 
jovial  as  Hale  ;  but  he  can  write  a  better  letter  than  any  of 
them.  A  little  from  his  pen  will  go  a  great  distance  and 
keep  a  long  time.  His  classic  style,  his  earnest  air,  his 
truthful  manner,  his  uncommon  sense,  his  perfect  self-con 
trol,  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  leading  questions  of  the 
day,  compel  the  attention  and  admiration  of  the  hearer.  He 
is  never  timid,  never  tame,  never  squeamish,  never  vulgar, 
never  insulting.  He  is  independent  without  egotism,  mod 
est  without  subserviency,  dignified  without  pomposity,  and 
sociable  without  affectation. 

We  need  look  back  but  a  few  months  to  find  much  to  ad 
mire  in  the  character  of  Seward.  See  him  rise  in  the  Sen 
ate  Chamber,  and  hear  him  defend  the  rights  of  humanity  in 
an  atmosphere  of  opposing  influences.  There  sits  the  impe 
rious  Clay,  with  flushed  face  and  flashing  eyes  —  and  the 
Great  Expounder,  with  pouting  lip  and  brow  of  thunder ;  and 
fiery  Foote,  phosphorescent  with  excitement ;  and  philosophi 
cal  Cass,  as  placid  as  though  the  Union  was  not  in  danger.  He 
(Seward)  drops  a  word  in  defence  of  the  higher  law,  and 
forthwith  there  is  "  ground  and  lofty  tumbling."  The  en 
raged  Senators  appear  to  think  that  regard  for  the  Command 
ments  is  an  insult  to  the  Constitution  —  that  reverence  for 
the  Deity  is  "  renegadism  "  from  duty.  So  they  examine  the 
elements  of  nature,  analyze  the  facts  in  history,  and  pervert 
the  truths  of  the  Bible,  to  prove  that  we  ought  to  obey  men 
rather  that  to  obey  God.  Had  Seward  been  an  ordinary 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  81 

man,  he  would  have  been  swamped  amid  the  storm ;  but  he 
remained  firm  as  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  that  stormy  sea, 
and  gave  proof,  that,  although  minimum  in  person,  he  was 
maximum  in  power.  Their  impotent  threats  could  no  more 
shake  his  resolution,  than  a  pinch  of  snuff  could  make  him 
sneeze,  (excuse  the  homely  illustration,)  for  the  former  went 
in  at  his  ears  almost  as  frequently  as  the  latter  does  into  his 
nostrils. 

Governor  Seward,  as  he  is  called,  is  a  little  past  the  prime 
of  life,  somewhat  under  the  common  stature,  has  a  very  large 
head,  with  a  few  grey  hairs  playing  hide  and  seek  amid  the 
mass  of  light  brown ;  he  has  blue  eyes,  a  small  forehead,  a 
long  nose,  and  a  patrician  mouth.  He  is  well  to  do  in  the 
world,  happy  in  his  domestic  relations,  enjoys  a  glorious  rep 
utation,  and  his  star  is  still  in  the  ascendant. 


DANIEL    WEBSTER. 


AMERICA  is  the  greatest  continent,  and  embraces  within  its 
limits  the  grandest  mountains,  the  broadest  lakes,  the  longest 
rivers,  the  largest  prairies,  and  with  all  these,  the  mightiest 
intellect.  Its  mountains  stand  up  like  pillars  supporting  the 
azure  arch  in  the  temple  of  nature;  its  lakes  are  inland 
seas  ;  its  rivers  could  swallow  the  waters  of  Europe  without 
overflowing  their  banks ;  and  its  mind  is  correlative  with  the 
magnificence  of  its  scenery.  There  is  but  one  Niagara,  and 
that  is  in  America ;  there  is  but  one  Webster,  and  he  is  in 
America.  The  cataract  flows  now,  as  it  did  when  God  first 
smote  the  rock  in  this  Western  wilderness,  and  He  has  woven 
a  rainbow  about  its  silver  forehead,  and  crowned  it  with  a 
fountain  of  diamonds.  It  shouts  the  same  song  of  liberty  it 
did  when  the  world  was  in  its  infancy.  It  is  free  and  mighty  ? 
and  cannot  be  hushed  into  silence,  nor  flattered  into  subser 
viency.  So  with  Webster,  when  he  lifts  up  his  voice  for 
freedom,  it  is  like  "  deep  calling  unto  deep  ; "  and  the  light 
of  Heaven  illuminates  his  magnetic  eyes  and  beams  on  his 
mighty  forehead. 

Geologists  have  discovered  the  colossal  bones  of  the 
Mastodon,  and  hence  we  infer  that  there  were  larger  animals 
in  ages  gone  by,  than  we  have  living  at  present ;  so,  future 
historians  will  find,  in  their  mutilated  and  mouldy  libraries, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  83 

the  remains  of  Webster's  greatness.  In  the  glory  of  his 
manhood  he  represented  Massachusetts;  defended  liberty; 
sympathized  with  humanity,  and  won  the  approbation  of  all 
good  men.  In  the  arena  of  debate  he  usually  came  off  more 
than  conqueror.  He  was  regarded  as  the  Senator  of  the 
United  States.  When  he  rose  in  his  place,  in  the  Council 
Chamber  of  the  nation,  with  a  voice  of  thunder  and  eyes  on 
fire,  every  face  was  turned  toward  him,  every  tongue  was 
silent,  for  he  was  clad  to  the  teeth  in  armor,  had  a  spear  like 
a  weaver's  beam,  and  had  been  trained  to  battle.  He  has 
great  self-possession,  coolness,  adroitness  and  tact;  never 
was  remarkable  for  sunshiny  gaiety  of  imagination ;  rarely 
strayed  to  select  bright  flowers  in  the  garden  of  literature  ; 
his  attempts  at  wit  were  like  the  antics  of  the  elephant  that 
tried  to  mimic  the  lap-dog ;  but  he  was  emphatically  great. 
He  was  the  defender  of  the  Constitution,  and  could  present 
arguments  in  its  defence  with  irrestible  force  and  eloquence 
His  words  were  full  of  marrow,  his  logic  unctuous  with 
fatness.  He  defeated  his  opponents,  not  by  the  "  delicacy  of 
his  tact,  but  by  the  prodigious  power  of  his  reason."  There 
"was  no  honied  paste  of  poetic  diction"  encrusting  his 
speeches,  "  like  the  candied  coat  of  the  auricula,"  but  there 
was  tremendous  weight  in  his  arguments. 

Webster,  in  earlier  days,  was  sublime  as  Chatham,  classi 
cal  as  Burke,  terse  as  Macintosh,  forcible  as  Tully.  En 
dowed,  by  nature,  with  a  noble  and  commanding  person,  he 
never  failed  to  attract  attention.  When  excited  in  debate, 
his  granite  face  glowed  with  intellect ;  "  the  terrors  of  his 
beak,  the  lightnings  of  his  eye,  were  insufferable."  He  was 
the  king  of  the  Senate,  for  nature  had  stamped  him  with  the 
unmistakable  mark  of  sovereignty,  regardless  of  the  repub 
licanism  of  his  country.  There  was  grace  in  his  gesture, 
dignity  in  his  deportment,  and  humanity  as  well  as  patriotism 


84  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

in  his  speeches.  His  voice  was  rich,  full,  and  clear ;  now 
thrilling  like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet,  now  intimidating  by 
the  awful  solemnity  of  its  tone,  now  animating  by  its  soul- 
stirring  notes.  Abroad,  he  was  the  lion  of  London,  his 
noble  exterior  making  him  "  a  man  of  mark."  He  has  coal- 
black  hair,  (now  thickly  sprinkled  with  grey,)  a  lofty  brow, 
"  the  forge  of  thought ;"  magnificent  eyes ;  an  ample  chest ; 
a  patrician  hand ;  a  face  broad  and  dark  as  some  of  the 
fugitives  he  would  return  to  bondage.  See  him  in  the 
zenith  of  his  manhood,  standing  on  the  battle-ground  at 
Bunker  Hill,  with  kingly  dignity,  utteiing  sentiments  that 
will  be  fresh  in  the  memories  of  millions,  when  the  shaft  of 
granite  now  standing  there  shall  have  crumbled  to  dust! 
Apparently  as  impregnable  as  the  granite  hills  of  his  own 
New  Hampshire,  who  supposed  that  he,  so  great  and  gifted, 
towering  above  ordinary  men,  was  as  the  mountain  which 
wraps  the  cloud-cloak  about  its  shoulders,  while  a  vest  of 
eternal  snow  keeps  the  sunshine  forever  from  its  heart ! 
The  mountain  is  great,  sublime  and  lofty,  but  cold,  barren 
and  unapproachable  ;  it  points  toward  Heaven,  but  remains 
fixed  to  earth. 

Daniel  Webster  has  accomplished  noble  feats,  for  which 
he  merits  the  gratitude  of  good  men.  Since  the  days  of 
Washington,  there  has  been  no  man  so  well  qualified,  in 
many  points,  for  the  presidency,  as  he.  His  impatience  and 
irritability,  in  consequence  of  his  disappointment,  have  been 
frequently  exhibited.  As  a  last  resort,  he  has  tried  to  con 
ciliate  the  South  at  the  expense  of  the  North.  As  a  public 
speaker,  he  seldom  enlivens  his  arguments  with  flashes  of 
wit,  but  he  has  said  some  keen  things,  which  have  become 
as  common  as  "  household  words."  At  a  public  meeting,  a 
young  aspirant  for  poetical  and  political  honors  attempted  to 
drink  a  toast  to  the  honor  of  the  immortal  John  Q.  Adams, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  85 

who  was  present.    "Mr.  Adams,"  said  the  toaster,  "may  he 

perplex  his  enemies  as  " here  the  speaker  hesitated, 

and  Webster  thundered  out,  "as  he  has  his  friends."  Foote 
made  a  fulsome  speech  in  praise  of  Mr.  Webster,  at  one 
time,  in  the  Senate,  but  the  "  god-like "  cut  him  short  by 
shouting  "  Git  eout."  The  Yankee  twang  he  gave  the  sen 
tence  convulsed  the  Senate  with  irrepressible  laughter. 

For  superior  specimens  of  pure  style,  lofty  reasoning  and 
eloquent  declamation,  read  Mr.  Webster's  arguments  before 
the  Supreme  Court,  his  speeches  delivered  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
his  best  efforts  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  his  unstudied  respon 
ses  at  public  dinners  and  conventions,  his  lectures  before  the 
lyceums,  his  remarks  on  the  great  political  and  constitu 
tional  questions  of  the  past  and  present  times.  Indeed,  all 
are  familiar  with  these  efforts  of  a  master  mind.  The  pro 
fessional  skill  and  the  parliamentary  talent  of  Mr.  Webster 
are  appreciated  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  He  has  con 
tended  with  the  ablest  intellects,  —  stout  competitors,  keen 
opponents,  —  and  always  came  off  with  flying  colors,  when 
he  was  in  the  right.  Even  his  rivals  give  him  the  credit  of 
being  the  most  forcible  debater  in  America. 

At  the  age  of  thirty  he  appeared  in  the  Congress  of  1812, 
and  Mr.  Lowndes  then  said  of  him,  that  the  North  had  not 
his  equal,  nor  the  South  his  superior.  That  he  has  been  a 
sagacious  statesman,  a  skillful  diplomatist,  a  profound  inves 
tigator,  and  the  greatest  thinker  in  America,  is  the  opinion 
of  millions  of  his  countrymen. 


7* 


CHARLES    SUMNER. 

NEW  YORK  is  the  head-quarters  of  commerce,  a  great 
wilderness  of  marble  and  mortar,  the  abode  of  merchant 
princes  and  millionaires.  Its  harbor  is  crowded  with  ships 
from  every  nation,  its  mammoth  mercantile  establishments 
contain  every  variety  of  fabric  and  produce,  its  streets  are 
busy  as  a  broken  ant-heap,  its  spires  point,  like  fingers  of 
pilgrims,  to  the  land  of  the  beautiful  above,  and  its  grog 
shops  are  plentiful  as  carbuncles  on  the  face  of  the  toper. 
It  has  the  best  editors,  and  the  poorest  speakers,  of  any  city 
in  the  Union.  Philadelphia  is  noted  for  handsome  buildings 
erected  on  straight  lines.  It  is  the  metropolis  of  magazine- 
dom,  where  Graham  and  Godey  make  gold  and  win  golden 
honors.  It  is  famed  for  the  brotherly  love  of  its  inhabitants, 
which  trait  is  beautifully  displayed  in  the  manner  in  which 
they  get  up  rows  and  send  their  fellow-citizens  to  Heaven. 
Boston  is  the  bank  of  New  England,  the  beacon-light  of 
reform,  the  seat  of  science  and  learning,  the  forum  of  chaste, 
classical,  thrilling,  heart-quaking,  soul-stirring  eloquence. 
There  is  no  city  in  the  United  States  that  contains  so  much 
speaking  talent  as  Boston.  Baltimore  is  choleric,  noisy,  and 
patriotic ;  Philadelphia  is  fastidious,  lymphatic,  and  meta 
physical  ;  Washington  is  like  Babel,  where  there  is  a  confu 
sion  of  languages,  or  like  a  vineyard  of  lazy  laborers,  where 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  87 

there  is  a  winey  atmosphere  ;  New  York  is  energetic,  bom 
bastic,  and  original ;  Cincinnati  is  slow  of  speech,  but  sound 
at  the  heart.  Boston  is  radical,  forcible,  eloquent. 

Among  the  most  eminent  speakers  in  the  modern  Athens, 
Charles  Sumner  stands  preeminently  conspicuous,  for  the 
classic  elegance  of  his  style,  the  Protean  power  of  his 
thought,  and  the  finished  beauty  of  his  illustrations.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  this  remarkable  age, 
and  favorable  circumstances  have  rendered  him  the  darling 
favorite  of  good  fortune.  He  was  cradled  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
Judge  Story  was  his  teacher,  and  Harvard  University  the 
school  in  which  he  was  taught.  When  he  had  availed  him 
self  of  the  advantages  afforded  by  this  institution  of  learning, 
he  made  the  tour  of  Europe.  England,  France  and  Ger 
many  contributed  liberally  to  his  store  of  knowledge.  If  he 
has  not  an  ample  competence,  he  has  what  is  better  —  an 
army  of  friends  and  a  thorough  education. 

Charles  Sumner  is  a  stockholder  in  the  bank  of  original 
thought.  We  may  know  he  has  considerable  bullion  there, 
for  his  drafts  are  honored  at  sight,  and  our  first  men  are  his 
endorsers.  He  has  great  power  of  condensation,  without 
the  wearisome  monotony  which  often  accompanies  the  writ 
ings  and  sayings  of  close  thinkers  and  rigid  reasoners. 
There  is  a  vigorous  and  graceful  stateliness,  an  easy  felicity, 
a  fastidious  accuracy  and  an  imperial  dignity  in  his  style, 
which  is  both  commanding  and  fascinating.  There  is  a  vast 
breadth  of  comprehension  and  a  vast  depth  of  meaning  in 
his  matter.  There  is  also  a  luminous  beauty,  a  Gothic  gran 
deur,  a  sublime  gorgeousness,  in  his  labored  and  polished 
essays,  which  entitle  them  to  the  appellation  of  prose  poems. 
He  sometimes  invests  his  ideas  in  such  lively,  such  attractive, 
such  speaking,  such  magic  language,  and  displays  so  much 
philosophical  sagacity,  so  much  poetical  sensibility,  so  much 


88  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

profound  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  and  political  history, 
the  reader  and  the  listener  are  carried  away  on  the  current, 
while  they  are  admiring,  almost  adoring,  the  man  whose 
kindling  words  have  set  their  imaginations  on  fire. 

Mr.  Sumner's  orations  are  written  with  great  care.  They 
abound  with  allusions  to  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the 
ancients,  and  manifest  deep  research  and  profound  thought. 
His  brilliant  arguments  at  the  bar  have  elicited  unbounded 
admiration,  and  his  model  manner  of  delivery  enhances  the 
value  of  his  eloquent  appeals.  The  dreary  desert  of  a 
common  case  is  sure  to  bloom  with  garden  beauty  under  his 
management.  The  forum,  however,  is  his  forte.  He  has 
the  dignity  of  Pitt,  without  his  pompous  declamation ;  the 
sublimity  of  Burke,  without  his  tedious  uniformity;  the 
vigor  of  Fox,  without  his  roughness.  He  is  not  so  fluent  as 
the  first,  not  so  classical  as  the  second,  not  so  ready  and 
original  as  the  third.  He  has  more  solidity  but  less  elo 
quence  than  Phillips ;  more  energy  but  less  originality  than 
Mann ;  more  poetry  and  as  much  polish  as  Everett.  His 
heart  is  not  an  island,  separated  from  his  head,  but  a  penin 
sula,  uniting  one  with  the  other.  There  is  a  relationship 
between  the  throb  of  the  former  and  the  thought  of  the  lat 
ter.  There  is  a  joining  of  impulse  and  intellect.  The 
affections  and  the  reflections  are  brothers  and  sisters.  The 
heart  thinks  and  feels,  the  head  feels  and  thinks. 

In  this  respect  Mr.  Sumner  differs  from  not  a  few  distin 
guished  men.  Sumner  believes  in  Christian  law,  and  throws 
the  weight  of  his  influence,  the  force  of  his  example,  and 
the  skill  of  his  profession,  in  the  scale  of  the  right  and  true. 
He  is  a  preacher  of  peace,  a  lover  of  freedom,  a  worker  for 
prison  amelioration  —  in  short,  a  noble  soldier  in  the  ranks 
of  reform.  "With  a  generous,  impulsive  nature,  he  feels  the 
woes  and  sufferings  of  every  portion  of  the  human  family. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  89 

Charles  Sumner  is  a  popular  man.  The  masses  admire  him 
because  there  is  no  "  dough  "  in  his  face,  no  demagogueism 
in  his  politics.  The  turncoats,  flunkeys,  time-servers,  office- 
seekers,  and  political  hypocrites  of  every  party,  fear  him 
as  the  enemies  of  Greece  did  the  Athenian  orator,  but  they 
cannot  despise  him,  they  cannot  ostracise  him,  they  cannot 
make  him  false  to  his  convictions.  Hence  he  is  the  man  the 
people  delight  to  honor,  though  he  seeks  no  popular  ap 
plause.  He  is  now  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  and  the  star 
of  his  fame  is  in  the  ascendant.  In  person,  he  is  tall,  well- 
proportioned,  with  a  low  but  broad  forehead,  light  magnetic 
eyes,  and  a  luxuriant  growth  of  dark  brown  hair.  He  has 
a  long,  uneven  face,  which  is  marked  with  the  manly  traits 
for  which  he  is  distinguished.  His  smile  is  very  sunny  and 
infectious,  and  his  greeting  very  cordial ;  walks  with  firm 
ness,  and  swings  his  arms  (especially  when  upon  the  plat 
form)  as  though  he  designed  to  knock  down  the  obstacles  in 
his  way ;  has  a  full,  rich  bass  voice,  which  becomes  very 
seductive  as  he  proceeds  in  his  speech,  enlisting  irresistibly 
the  attention,  and  appealing  warmly  to  the  feelings.  When 
he  is  intensely  excited,  the  tones  of  his  voice  move  one  like 
the  blast  of  a  bugle.  As  an  orator,  he  has  but  few 
superiors. 

Mr.  Sumner  would  excel  as  a  diplomatist,  for  he  has  that 
peculiar  ingenuity  and  intuitive  skill  which  would  enable 
him  to  disentangle  the  complicated  questions  that  would 
come  before  him  for  arbitrament.  When  his  party  desire 
to  move  the  political  world  they  are  apt  to  shift  it  upon  his 
Atlantean  shoulders.  Is  there  a  great  gulf  between  Dives 
the  demagogue,  and  Lazarus  of  his  own  league  ?  — He  will 
bridge  over  the  chasm,  if  it  can  be  done,  and  unite  them  in 
mutual  friendship,  without  sacrificing  truth  and  right  on  the 
altar  of  compromise.  But  some  say  Mr.  Sumner  is  not 


90  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

sufficiently  practical.  He  hopes  to  see  the  dawn  of  a  golden 
future,  and  mistakes  the  scintillating  lights  of  the  Northern 
skies  for  the  sunrise  of  the  millennial  day.  Although  he  is 
ambitious  in  worthy  causes,  he  is  wise,  and  patiently  bides 
his  tune,  without  egotistically  thrusting  himself  before  the 
people ;  is  fond  of  fame,  but  when  he  is  crowned  with 
honors  his  modesty  is  equal  to  his  gratitude.  Has  a  Fan- 
euil-Hall-full  of  affectionate  admirers  in  his  own  city,  and 
multitudes  of  them  elsewhere. 

As  might  be  expected  from  his  heart-sympathies,  Mr. 
Sumner  early  connected  himself  with  the  Free  Soil  party ; 
indeed,  was  one  of  its  originators, —  and  without  question  is 
one  of  the  ablest  men  in  it  —  and  politicians  of  all  shades  of 
opinion  will  agree  that  that  party  embodies  a  large  share  of 
intellectual,  moral  and  personal  strength.  Recent  events  in 
the  political  affairs  of  Massachusetts  have  placed  Mr.  Sum 
ner  conspicuously  before  the  community  as  a  candidate  for 
the  United  States  Senate.*  If  he  should  receive  the  honor 
of  that  post,  he  would  be  more  of  a  statesman  than  a  parti 
san,  more  of  a  sound,  humane,  political  economist  than  the 
mouth-piece  of  a  faction — and  I  need  not  say,  would  do 
honor  to  the  State  he  represents.  His  benevolence  of  char 
acter  never  will  allow  him  to  be  a  party  demagogue,  but  for 
all  that  gives  dignity  to  manhood  or  exalts  true  political 
science,  he  has  every  requisite. 


*  Written  before  Mr.  Sumner's  election. 


MOSES    GRANT, 

MOSES  GRANT  has  obtained  a  world-wide  celebrity,  by 
his  untiring  efforts  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  unfor 
tunate  children  of  poverty  and  sorrow.  The  widow  and  the 
orphan  have  reason  to  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed.  The 
drunkard  and  the  prisoner  have  abundant  cause  to  remem 
ber  him  gratefully,  for  his  labors  of  love.  Although 
advanced  in  years,  he  has  the  vigor,  forecast  and  decision  of 
the  prune  of  life.  Between  the  hours  of  eight  and  one,  in 
the  morning,  he  may  be  found  every  working-day  in  his 
office,  serving  the  poor.  Groups  of  men,  women  and  chil 
dren,  of  every  complexion,  from  every  country,  may  be  seen 
at  his  office  every  forenoon,  soliciting  aid  and  advice.  The 
dusky  African,  the  mercurial  Celt,  the  stolid  Englishman, 
the  chattering  Frenchman,  the  lymphatic  German,  and  the 
exiled  Hungarian.  One  sits  on  a  bench  at  the  window,  eat 
ing  a  bowl  of  soup  —  another  stoops  down  to  fit  a  pair  of 
shoes  to  his  feet  —  another  strips  the  rags  from  his  back 
and  puts  on  a  warm  jacket.  Look  at  the  procession  passing 
through  the  gate.  Here  is  a  boy  with  a  bag  of  rice,  there  is 
a  girl  with  a  loaf  of  bread,  yonder  is  a  woman  with  a  basket 
of  provisions.  See  that  red-faced  young  man, —  his  home  is 
in  the  country,  but  he  last  night  fell  among  thieves,  between 
Broad  and  Beacon  streets,  and  he  has  just  borrowed  a  sum 


92  CBAYON     SKETCHES. 

sufficient  to  take  him  to  his  parents.  That  modest  woman,  so 
plainly  yet  so  neatly  dressed,  suffered  uncomplainingly  until 
pinching  hunger  compelled  her  to  solicit  charity  —  her  im 
mediate  wants  are  supplied,  and  employment  will  be  procured 
for  her.  The  man  with  a  slouched  hat  and  seedy  coat  has 
signed  the  pledge,  and  left  his  brandy  bottle  among  the 
curiosities  in  the  Deacon's  temperance  museum.  There 
comes  the  porter  with  a  stack  of  letters  and  papers  from  the 
post-office  —  the  former  will  be  answered  and  the  latter 
examined,  before  the  rising  of  to-morrow's  sun. 

It  is  now  noon.  The  sad  faced,  broken-hearted,  and 
down-trodden  procession,  has  passed  away  from  the  beautiful 
residence,  and  the  owner  and  occupant  of  the  mansion  hur 
ries  down  to  his  place  of  business,  from  that  to  the  bank,  and 
then  home  again,  in  time  to  dine.  After  dinner  he  calls  for 
his  carriage  and  takes  a  poor  boy  to  the  Farm  School  — 
dropping  in  at  South  Boston  to  see  the  juvenile  offenders,  and 
calling,  on  his  return,  to  see  a  sick  woman,  and  administer 
such  consolation  and  assistance  as  he  can  render.  Her  lips 
are  white  as  the  wild  white  rose,  but  she  calls  for  blessings 
to  descend  upon  kind  friends  whose  visits  are  better  than 
medicine  to  her  aching  frame  and  her  breaking  heart. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  never  idle.  Now  presiding 
at  a  Mass  Meeting  on  the  Common,  or  in  Faneuil  Hall,  or 
in  Tremont  Temple — then  making  a  speech  to  the  convicts 
in  Charlestown  Prison,  or  visiting  the  paupers  at  Deer  Is 
land — or  attending  to  his  official  business  at  the  Board  of 
Aldermen — or  his  duties  as  an  office  bearer  in  the  Brattle 
Street  Church,  where  his  father  served  before  him,  in  the 
same  capacity  of  Deacon. 

His  father  was  one  of  the  brave  men  who  threw  the  tea 
overboard  in  Boston  harbor.  Mr.  Grant  is  the  senior  part 
ner  in  a  large  paper  establishment,  Overseer  of  the  Poor, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  93 

Almoner  for  the  benevolent  who  choose  to  contribute  of 
their  abundance  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed ;  President 
of  the  Boston  Temperance  Society,  and  a  Director  in  many 
other  institutions.  He  is  a  man  of  fortune,  has  a  good  edu 
cation,  and  has  visited  Europe.  He  writes  a  sensible  letter, 
and  makes  a  practical  speech ;  is  peculiarly  happy  in  his 
remarks  to  children,  and  always  a  welcome  visitor  at  all 
juvenile  demonstrations.  For  many  years  he  has  been  iden 
tified  with  the  temperance  cause.  His  house,  and  purse, 
and  heart,  are  ever  open  for  the  advancement  of  his  favorite 
enterprise.  He  is  the  unfaltering  friend  and  patron  of  that 
eminent  orator,  J.  B.  Gough,  and  stood  by  his  side  in  the 
hour  of  trial,  when  summer  friends  forsook  him. 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  describe  his  person.  The  portrait 
in  the  American  Temperance  Magazine  is  a  pretty  fair 
resemblance,  although  not  a  perfect  likeness.  He  has 
brown  hair — sprinkled  with  lines  of  silver — blue  eyes,  thin 
face,  cheeks  somewhat  sunken,  is  rather  under  the  medium 
size.  He  is  of  the  nervous-sanguine  temperament ;  has 
a  singular  habit  of  twitching  the  muscles  of  his  face  and 
shrugging  his  shoulders  when  excited ;  often  speaks  abruptly, 
when  pressed  with  business,  and  does  not  always  appear  to 
the  best  advantage  at  first  sight,  but  wears  well  and  "  im 
proves  on  acquaintance."  In  a  word,  he  is  a  man  of  sound 
judgment,  superior  business  talents,  a  practical  philan 
thropist,  and  a  sincere  Christian.  For  many  years  he  has 
been  a  hero  in  the  battle-field  of  life,  and  many  would  be 
willing  to  give  a  dukedom  to  possess  such  green  laurels 
and  golden  honors  as  he  has  won. 
til  jiemwwj1  aWmai!  m>  JL-yiqiraso  ban  ^gtterraqavd&i  vh-^traft 

8 


JOHN  B.  GOUGH. 


THE  snow-storm  last  Sunday  prevented  many  from 
attending  meetings  of  worship.  Even  the  saloons  were  not 
so  well  patronized  as  usual.  The  descending  snow  covered 
the  footsteps  of  the  unfortunate  victims  of  appetite,  as  though 
the  flakes  had  been  angels  of  mercy  spreading  out  their 
white  wings  to  obliterate  the  way  to  ruin.  Notwithstanding 
the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  and  the  untravellable  condi 
tion  of  the  streets,  multitudes  of  men,  women  and  children 
are  wending  their  way  to  the  Tremont  Temple.  Who  is 
the  magnet  of  attraction  ?  What  is  his  theme  ?  Is  it  the 
novelty  of  a  new  comer  that  brings  out  the  masses  on  such 
a  night  ?  No ;  the  orator  J.  B.  Gough,  has  spoken  more  than 
twelve  dozen  times  on  that  same  subject  in  the  same  place. 
Is  it  his  profound  learning  that  enables  him  to  invest  such  a 
question  with  so  much  interest  ?  No ;  he  is  an  uneducated 
man.  Is  he  the  originator  or  leader  of  a  clique  or  party,  or 
does  he  occupy  an  elevated  position  in  the  political  world, 
that  he  commands  so  much  influence  ?  No  ;  he  does  not 
publicly  indentify  himself  with  any  political  party.  He  was 
formerly  intemperate,  and  occupied  an  humble  position  in 
the  ranks  of  the  lowly  poor.  See  him,  and  hear  him,  and 
you  will  then  know  why  he  fills  the  Temple,  and,  like  Sam 
son,  shakes  it  afterwards.  He  is  not  a  reasoner.  He  is  not 


CBATON     SKETCHES.  95 

a  philosopher.  He"  is  not  a  scholar.  Look  at  his  magnetic 
eyes — and  the  light  beaming  on  his  pale  forehead.  Hear 
the  silvery  tones  of  his  thrilling  voice.  See  how  off-handish 
he  is.  He  rises  from  his  seat  as  though  he  supposed  nobody 
was  looking  at  him.  With  his  hands  folded  behind  him,  he 
walks  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  and  announces  the  num 
ber  of  times  he  has  spoken  in  the  city.  Speaks  lowly  and 
slowly  at  first,  but  the  color  that  comes  like  a  flash  over  his 
face,  now  and  then  advertises  the  uprush  of  blood  to  the 
brain.  Now  he  has  cut  loose  from  his  moorings,  and  is  fairly 
out  at  sea.  Every  sail  is  set ;  the  wind  is  fair ;  the  ocean 
is  smooth  or  rough,  as  he  may  choose  to  make  it,  for  God  has 
given  him  power  to  raise  the  storm,  and  power  to  bid 
the  waves  be  still.  Every  hearer  is  attentive.  The  great 
flood  of  faces,  up-turned  and  side-turned,  indicate  the 
interest.  No  one  leaves,  unless  it  is  some  unappreciating 
dull-head  —  or  some  one  whose  business  or  indisposition 
demands  him  to  absent  himself.  The  orator  stops  not  to 
round  his  periods,  or  polish  his  sentences.  He  is  an  actor, 
as  well  as  an  orator,  and  could  excel  as  a  pantomime 
player. 

I  know  of  no  man  living  who  can  tell  a  story  better  than 
he.  All  who  hear  him  once  are  anxious  to  hear  him  again. 
What  a  graphic  description  he  has  just  given  of  Felix 
McConnell !  We  see  the  plague-spot  on  his  face — the  blood 
oozing  from  the  ends  of  his  bursting  fingers,  and  gushing 
from  the  gaping  wound,  out  of  which  his  soul  has  fled.  Now 
he  tells  a  tale  of  pity,  and  women  weep  like  children  ;  and 
strong  men,  "albeit  unused  to  the  melting  mood,"  brush 
away  the  tears  shyly,  as  though  it  were  a  sin  to  shed  them. 
Now  he  relates  a  ludicrous  story,  and  laughter  shakes  the 
tear-drops  from  fair  faces,  as  the  Summer  wind  sweeps  the 
dew  from  flowers.  He  has  been  with  his  brethren  and  sis- 


96  CEATON      SKETCHES. 

ters  around  the  communion  table,  to-day,  and  he  came  here 
with  a  heart  full  of  love  to  God  and  good  will  to  man.  His 
white-haired  and  venerable  father  sits  behind,  on  the  plat 
form,  and  seems  deeply  interested  in  the  address.  Deacon 
Grant,  his  unfaltering  friend,  is  also  present.  It  is  a  stormy 
night  —  the  lights  burn  dimly  —  and  the  meeting  would  be 
a  dull  affair,  were  it  not  for  the  electric  eloquence  of  the 
speaker. 

This  is  his  farewell  speech,  and  it  is  one  of  his  happiest 
efforts.  What  a  thrilling  description  he  has  just  given,  of  a 
man  in  a  boat,  going  over  the  Falls  of  Niagara !  We  see 
the  bed  of  the  river,  above  the  rapids,  as  smooth  as  molten 
silver.  The  boat  glides  on ;  hands  beckon  and  voices  call, 
from  the  shore,  for  the  man  to  stop  —  but  he  laughs,  and 
replies  that  he  will  "  hard  up "  the  helm  and  pull  on  his 
oars  in  time.  The  birds  sing,  the  flowers  bloom — a  rainbow 
is  woven  on  the  forehead  of  the  water  yonder,  and  a  shower 
of  liquid  diamonds  descend  in  the  sun-light.  Now  the 
boat  approaches  the  rapids !  —  The  unhappy  man  grasps  the 
oars  —  the  veins  on  his  forehead  stand  out  like  whip 
cords  —  the  beaded  sweat  rolls  like  rain  down  his  face. 
Now  the  boat  and  the  man  are  swallowed  by  one  wave 
and  disgorged  by  another!  —  Now  all  is  lost,  for  ever 
lost! 

Mr.  Gough  bids  his  hearers  farewell  again,  —  alluding  to 
the  time  when  he  was  an  actor,  in  the  same  building  (then 
the  Tremont  Theatre)  where  he  now  advocates  the  cause  of 
temperance. 

Some  who  read  this  may  like  to  know  something  about 
the  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Gough.  He  is  thirty-five 
years  of  age,  of  slender  build  and  of  medium  stature.  His 
temperament  is  nervous-bilious ;  hair  dark,  with  here  and 
there  a  line  of  silver  in  it;  and  his  long,  pale,  thin  face 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  97 

is  lit  up  with  a  pair  of  large  electric  eyes.  Hard 
drinking,  before  his  reform,  and  hard  work  since,  have 
creased  his  brow  with  furrows,  and  left  the  print  of 
the  "  crows'-feet,"  at  the  corners  of  his  eyes.  He  dresses 
neatly,  in  plain  black.  The  writer  knows,  from  perso 
nal  and  intimate  acquaintance,  that  he  is  not  only  a 
gifted  man,  but,  to  use  a  common-place  expression  —  a 
good  fellow. 

The  writer  heard  him  on  another  occasion,  when  he  com 
plained  of  being  tired  and  travel-worn,  and  appeared  dull 
and  sleepy.  When  his  name  was  announced,  he  rose  rather 
awkwardly  and  walked  leisurely  toward  the  foot-lights,  with 
his  hands  folded  behind  him,  and  commenced  speaking 
slowly,  in  a  low  tone  of  voice.  In  a  few  moments,  however, 
the  lightning  began  to  flash  from  his  eyes,  and  the  thunder 
of  eloquence  to  peal  from  his  tongue,  while  his  face  shone 
with  the  inspiration  of  his  genius.  He  treated  his  hearers 
to  outbursts  of  pathos,  inimitable  humor,  pungent  wit,  and 
thrilling  facts.  It  was  one  of  his  mightest  efforts,  and  was 
driven  home  to  the  heart  with  such  force  as  to  make  a  life- 
lasting  impression. 

Mr.  Gough's  speeches  are  disjointed,  and  lack  that  so 
lidity  which  characterizes  the  speeches  of  some  of  the  great 
pioneers  in  the  temperance  cause ;  but  he  is  emphatically 
the  man  for  the  million.  Since  the  day  of  the  lamented 
Summerfield,  no  man  has  attracted  so  much  attention  and 
won  so  much  admiration  as  he.  Gough  is  generous,  frank, 
and  sociable,  fond  of  sport,  and  enjoys  a  rough-and-tumble 
game  of  innocent  fun,  as  well  as  any  one. 

Altogether,  he  is  a  remarkable  man,  and  has  been  instru 
mental  in  accomplishing  incalculable  good.  His  eloquence 
reminds  one  of  the  onward  flow  of  sweeping  waters.  The 
silver  thread  unwinding  from  a  hidden  spring  in  the  moun- 
8* 


98  CEAYON     SKETCHES. 

tain  falls  lightly  at  first,  but  gathers  volume  and  voice  as 
it  proceeds,  until  it  murmurs  in  the  brooklet,  shouts  in  the 
torrent,  thunders  in  the  cataract,  and  rolls  on  in  beauty, 
glory,  majesty  and  sublimity  in  the  river,  and  finally  swells 
the  waves  of  the  mighty  ocean. 


LEWIS    CASS. 

HON.  LEWIS  CASS  is  a  gallant  General,  a  good  citizen, 
an  eminent  statesman,  who  has  served  his  country  at  home 
and  abroad,  for  many  years,  with  honor  to  himself  and 
credit  to  his  country.  He  is  a  man  of  unimpeachable 
purity  of  character,  —  and  his  abstemious  habits  (unless  he 
has  met  with  a  recent  change)  deserve  the  commendation 
of  all  good  men.  He  is  pugnacious,  and  often  shakes  his 
fist  in  the  face  of  John  Bull ;  is  ambitious,  and  has  made 
high  bids  for  the  presidency.  In  his  efforts  to  provoke  the 
former  and  secure  the  latter,  he  has  displayed  his  weakest 
points. 

Lewis  Cass  is  a  great  man  —  physically  and  intellect 
ually.  There  is  nothing  trashy  or  inane  in  his  speeches ; 
he  is  not  subject  to  poetical  hysterics,  and  there  is  not  much 
of  the  majestic  or  the  sublime  in  his  speeches.  It  is  sel 
dom  that  great  and  mighty  thoughts  leap  from  his  mouth, 
as  "Minerva  sprang  from  the  brain  of  Jove;"  but  he  is 
plain,  practical,  philosophical,  argumentative,  correct,  and 
classical.  He  does  not  soar  like  an  angel,  but  he  stands 
erect  like  a  man.  He  has  a  well-balanced,  ratiocinative 
mind  —  deeply  experienced,  and  thoroughly  cultivated.  He 
cannot,  like  Webster,  "  heap  Pelion  upon  Ossa,"  until  his 
opponent  is  overwhelmed  and  crushed  to  the  dust,  —  but  he 


100  CEAYON     SKETCHES. 

digs  deeply,  until  the  victim  is  first  undermined,  and  finally 
buried  under  his  own  premises. 

He  is  corpulent  —  almost  gross  —  and  has  a  dull  face  ;  is 
a  perfect  gentleman  in  his  address,  excellent  company,  when 
he  is  sufficiently  acquainted  to  "  unbend  the  brow,"  and  in 
the  convivial  circle  he  can  contribute  his  share  of  merri 
ment.  He  speaks  French  fluently,  and  is  familiar  with 
other  languages.  He  is  a  man  whom  his  party  delights  to 
honor,  —  and  has  been  governor,  representative,  foreign 
minister,  is  now  senator,  and  several  times  he  has  been 
almost  President  of  the  United  States.  He  lives  in  a  large, 
plain,  democratic-looking  house,  in  the  beautiful  city  of 
Detroit.  He  is  now  ill  with  the  ague*  —  the  only  thing  that 
can  shake  him.  Senator  Douglass  has  recently  employed 
an  artist  to  take  his  portrait.  Perhaps  he  designs  to  hang 
the  shadow  on  the  wall,  and  take  the  place  of  the  substance 
himself.  He  is  highly  esteemed  in  Michigan,  and  has  more 
influence  there  than  any  other  man  in  the  State.  Permit 
me  to  record  a  joke,  which  has  been  exposed  to  the  sun  and 
air  so  long  it  has  become  dry,  if  not  stale.  "  Tell  Hale," 
said  Cass,  "that  he  is  a  Granite  goose."  "Tell  Cass," 
replied  Hale,  "  that  he  is  a  Michi-^rcmrfer  /  " 


*  Since  recovered. 


.85:  ; 


FRANCIS    TUKEY. 

•••'lit-1':    y/it  ''.--      rl'/t  f-hf   I"»7fo_°'ii  sVsHvV  <M\V 

FRANCIS  TUKEY  is  the  Napoleon  of  City  Marshals. — 
Lynx-eyed  and  lion-hearted,  keen  as  a  sharper,  and  brave  as 
a  soldier,  he  displays  remarkable  skill,  tact,  force  and  fore 
sight,  when  he  pursues  a  criminal,  or  subdues  a  mob,  or 
storms  a  gambling  hell.  The  sight  of  a  dirk  or  the  snap  of 
a  pistol  never  make  him  absent  in  body,  nor  scare  away  his 
presence  of  mind.  He  is  not  like  the  giant  of  Rabelais, 
who  could  swallow  windmills  one  day,  and  yet  choke  at  the 
sight  of  a  pat  of  fresh  butter  the  next,  for  he  never  loses 
that  calm,  cool  self-possession,  so  requisite  in  a  rogue-catcher. 
The  mantle  of  Jacob  Hays  must  have  fallen  upon  his  should 
ers,  for  when  he  is  in  pursuit  of  the  violators  of  the  law, 
thick  walls  are  transparent,  deep  schemes  are  unriddled, 
and  bold  villains  are  brought  to  justice. 

The  police  force  under  his  management  has  been  so  well 
trained  that  it  can  be  employed  to  the  best  advantage.  This 
civil  army  can  be  brought  into  service  on  any  emergency, 
at  short  notice,  with  all  the  uniformity  and  efficiency  of  a 
disciplined  army. 

In  our  large  cities,  rascality  is  reduced  to  a  science.  Pock 
ets  are  picked  by  rule  —  merchants  are  swindled  by  accom 
plished  financiers  —  banks  are  entered  by  the  most  uncivil 
engineers  —  gamblers  go  dressed  like  gentlemen  —  burglars 


102  CEAYON     SKETCHES. 

are  armed  with  false  keys,  bowie-knives  and  revolvers. 
Consequently,  a  Marshal  must  have  the  courage  of  Crom 
well,  the  zeal  of  Luther,  if  he  would  be  a  terror  to  such  evil 
doers,  and  a  praise  to  those  who  do  well.  He  must  not  only 
have  a  head  to  contrive,  but  a  heart  to  feel,  also.  He  must 
not  be  like  the  man  who,  because  he  had  passed  through 
the  Custom-House,  supposed  the  Government  had  taken  off 
the  duties  he  owed  his  fellow-citizens.  While  the  guilty 
must  be  punished  the  innocent  must  be  protected. 

Marshal  Tukey  is  a  native  of  Maine,  by  profession  a 
lawyer.  He  is  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  about  five  feet 
nine  inches  in  height,  of  good  mould,  and  his  head  is  phren- 
ologically  well  developed ;  his  hair  smooth,  and  black  as  the 
wing  of  a  raven  ;  eyes  large,  dark  and  piercing ;  face  pale, 
thin  and  thoughtful ;  forehead  quite  intellectual ;  mouth  well 
cut,  and  his  smile  is  quite  infectious.  He  has  recently  con 
nected  himself  with  the  Temple  of  Honor,  in  this  city.  He 
never  was  habituated  to  the  inordinate  use  of  intoxicating 
drink  —  consequently  he  had  no  appetite  to  contend  with. 
He  would  have  united  with  that  noble  institution  long  ago, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  every  disinterested  deed 
performed  by  a  public  man  is  sure  to  be  regarded  by  the 
selfish  as  political  manoeuvring  for  place  and  power. 


WILLIAM    R    STACY. 


WILLIAM  R.  STACY  is  a  plain,  business  man,  whose 
hands  and  heart  and  soul  are  earnestly  engaged  in  the  total 
abstinence  reform.  In  season  and  out  of  season,  he  is  the 
same  untiring,  uncompromising  and  unflinching  champion  of 
the  cause.  In  Societies,  in  Sections,  in  Divisions,  in  Tents 
and  in  Temples,  he  is  known  as  an  efficient  worker.  Fair- 
weather  friends  and  summer-fly  advocates  of  abstinence 
doctrines  are  constantly  rebuked  by  his  unyielding  adher 
ence  to  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  pledge.  Temperance 
thermometers,  whose  mercury  is  sure  to  rise  and  fall,  ac 
cording  to  the  state  of  the  atmosphere,  wonder  with  open 
mouths  and  open  eyes,  and  leathern  ears  and  leaden  brains, 
why  Mr.  Stacy  denies  himself  the  lazy  ease  which  they 
misname  enjoyment.  Politicians,  who  can  accommodate 
themselves  to  every  sect  in  religion,  to  every  party  in  poli 
tics,  to  every  shade  of  society,  and,  like  chameleons,  assume 
the  color  of  the  community  in  which  they  move,  are  aston 
ished  that  a  man  of  his  tact  and  influence,  and  persevering 
energy,  does  not  attempt  to  reap  laurels  and  gain  gold  in 
the  field  of  political  action.  Those  who  need  not  envy  the 
donkey  its  redundancy  of  ear,  are  surprised  that  such  a 
sensible  man  should  engage  in  such  "  small  business." 

Captain  Stacy  is  President  of  the  Parent  Washingtonian 


104  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

Temperance  Society,  in  this  city  —  an  institution  which  has 
been  in  successful  operation  for  eight  years,  during  which 
time  hundreds  and  thousands  have  been  added  to  its  mem 
bership.  This  good  Samaritan  society  not  only  secures 
names  to  the  pledge,  but  feeds  the  hungry,  clothes  the  desti 
tute,  visits  the  sick.  It  has  been  instrumental  in  healing 
hearts  that  were  broken,  and  restoring  to  society  men  who 
had  degraded  themselves  by  the  use  of  strong  drinks. 
Through  Summer  and  Winter,  Spring  and  Autumn,  fair 
weather  and  foul  weather,  Mr.  Stacy  has  attended  the  meet 
ing  of  this  society. 

His  friends  seem  to  appreciate  his  worth  by  heaping 
honors  upon  him.  The  last  two  years,  he  was  Most  Worthy 
Associate  of  the  National  Division.  He  is  now  Most  Wor 
thy  Templar  of  the  National  Temple.  These  distinctions 
have  fallen  upon  a  worthy  man.  There  is  no  poetry,  no 
tinselry  about  his  speeches.  His  thoughts  are  clad  in  a 
thin  covering  of  scanty  words.  He  works  noiselessly  and 
out  of  sight,  but  very  effectually.  Is  there  a  cross  to  carry, 
his  shoulders  are  chosen  to  bear  the  burden.  Is  there 
money  to  raise,  his  financiering  skill  is  called  into  exercise. 
Is  there  a  mammoth  meeting  to  be  held, .  he  is  expected  to 
make  the  necessary  preparations. 

Mr.  Stacy  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  a  man  of  common  stat 
ure,  has  dark  hair,  large  light  eyes,  an  honest  face,  a  good 
development  of  benevolence,  and  firmness  enough  to  render 
him  obstinate  when  opposed  —  providing  he  has  reason  to 
believe  he  is  on  the  right  side  of  the  question.  Few  men 
are  so  well  acquainted  with  the  "  workings "  of  the  Na 
tional  Temple  as  he  ;  few  men  have  more  influence  in  the 
great  national  temperance  movement  then  he.  It  is  evident 
that  he  accepts  office  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  105 

sphere  of  his  usefulness,  and  not  for  the  gratification  of  his 
personal  vanity. 

He  never  occupies  much  time  in  his  public  addresses  — 
does  not  stop  to  dissect  his  dictionary  for  choice  language, 
but  speaks  out  hi  manly  style  the  thoughts  that  are  upper 
most  in  his  mind.  He  is  not  a  classical  scholar,  and  never 
tries  to  pass  for  more  than  he  is  worth,  by  awkward 
attempts  at  rounding  periods  and  polishing  sentences.  His 
striking  characteristics  are  generosity,  energy,  perseverance, 
courage,  and  common  sense. 


9 


ELIZUK   WEIGHT. 

For  thee,  my  country,  thee,  do  I  perform 

Sternly,  the  duty  of  a  man  born  free ; 
Heedless,  though  ass,  and  wolf,  and  venomous  worm 

Shake  ears  and  fangs,  with  brandished  bray  at  me. 

ELLIOT. 

ELIZUR  WRIGHT  is  the  translator  of  La  Fontaine's 
Fables,  and  the  editor  of  the  Commonwealth.  Mr.  "Wright 
is  an  original  and  subtle  writer,  has  great  power  of  analysis, 
and  often  flings  the  golden  light  of  a  vivid  imagination  over 
the  productions  of  his  pen.  He  may  be  styled  the  prince  of 
paragraphists,  and  yet  he  often  is  as  unidiomatic,  angular 
and  jargonic  as  Carlyle.  Common  objects  and  hackneyed 
subjects,  viewed  through  the  kaleidoscope  of  his  fancy,  have 
a  charm  which  attract  the  attention  of  persons  competent  to 
appreciate  his  thoughts  and  illustrations.  He  usually  writes 
on  practical  questions  and  every-day  transactions,  and  in  his 
peculiar  way  endeavors  to  remove  evils,  correct  abuses, 
expose  hypocrisy,  denounce  cant,  condemn  bigotry,  and 
enforce  the  principles  of  universal  freedom  in  church  and 
state.  When  he  assails  a  public  man  who  has  not  been 
faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  he  reminds  one  of  the 
Rev.  Sydney  Smith,  who  had  expended  a  great  deal  of 
elaborate  censure  on  an  English  minister.  Said  he  —  "I 
do  not  attack  him  for  the  love  of  glory,  but  from  the  love  of 
utility,  as  a  burgomaster  hunts  a  rat  in  a  Dutch  dyke,  for 
fear  it  should  flood  a  province." 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  107 

Few  men  exhibit  more  versatility  of  talent  than  Mr, 
Wright.  He  can  translate  a  French  fable,  write  a  popular 
song,  originate  a  love  story,  dash  off  a  leader  for  a  news 
paper,  prepare  an  essay  for  a  review,  or  rise  up  and  make  a 
speech,  at  short  notice.  Examine  his  spicy  and  spirited 
sheet,  and  you  will  see  that  it  scolds  like  a  cynic,  reasons 
like  a  logician,  while  it  glows  with  eloquence  and  gleams 
with  poetry,  and  looks  like  a  pretty  woman  in  a  fit  of 
passion  on  a  washing-day  —  scolding  and  slapping  the  little 
"  brats  "  about  her. 

Mr.  "Wright  sympathizes  with  the  spirit  of  reform,  which 
is  now  moving  on  the  mighty  deep  of  intellect ;  but  he  is  so 
paradoxical  at  times,  it  is  difficult  to  define  his  position.  He 
looks  upon  black  coats  and  white  neck-cloths  with  suspicion, 
and  is  apt  to  crow  whilst  he  chronicles  defections  in  the 
church.  He  is  an  ordinary  speaker,  and  never  could  attract 
much  notice  in  the  forum.  His  voice  is  weak,  utterance 
slow,  manner  unattractive,  but  his  matter  is  original  and 
startling.  He  appeals  to  the  people  to  look  beyond  their 
larders  and  their  libraries,  their  farms  and  their  factories,  to 
gaze  up  higher  than  the  steeples  of  their  churches.  He 
divides  society  into  mice,  owls,  eagles,  men,  angels,  and 
gods. 

Our  subject  is  a  domestic  man  —  a  kind  of  Utopian  utili 
tarian.  Few  women  can  beat  him  at  sweeping  the  floor, 
making  the  bed,  or  dressing  a  baby.  At  home,  he  is  often 
up  to  his  elbows  in  the  kneading-trough  and  wash-tub.  It 
is  quite  common  to  see  him  write  with  one  hand  and  rock 
the  cradle  with  the  other.  There  are  not  many  families  in 
New  England  under  better  management  than  his.  The 
oldest  boy,  who  is  now  in  his  teensj  is  a  famous  and  skilful 
teacher  of  music. 

Mr.  Wright  has  just  passed  the  meridian  of  life ;  is  a 


108  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

small,  thin  man,  of  the  nervous-bilious  temperament;  face 
strongly  marked,  indicating  unbending  endurance,  unfalter 
ing  energy,  and.  transparent  honesty  of  purpose ;  head  large, 
especially  in  the  region  of  the  reflective  faculties.  I  should 
think  benevolence,  ideality,  comparison,  causality,  combative- 
ness,  and  philoprogenitiveness  the  most  prominently  devel 
oped  organs.  His  editorials  are  quoted  extensively  in  every 
part  of  the  land.  Eloquent  extracts  might  be  taken  from 
the -columns  of  his  paper,  and  made  into  a  saleable  book. 
His  sparkling  sentiments,  comical  illustrations,  witty  con 
ceits,  droll  humor  and  pat  quotations  are  mixed  up  with 
theology,  philosophy  and  science. 

In  a  word,  Mr.  Wright  is  a  scholar,  a  poet,  a  genius  ;  he 
is  obstinately  independent,  indignantly  in  earnest,  and  un 
mercifully  severe.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  he  would 
make  a  good  conductor,  if  he  had  not  so  many  cars  attached 
to  his  engine. 


JOHN   M.   SPEAR 


THERE  are  but  few  of  the  unfortunate  inmates  of  the 
houses  of  correction,  the  jails  and  tfie  prisons  in  New-Eng 
land,  who  can  with  propriety  say  to  JOHN  M.  SPEAK,  "  I 
was  sick  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me  not."  He  devotes 
himself  almost  entirely  to  the  welfare  of  that  neglected  class 
of  our  fellow  men,  whose  accidents  and  crimes  have  deprived 
them  of  the  privileges  which  are  the  birthright  of  a  free 
people.  The  poor  prisoner,  clad  in  the  dress  of  a  convict, 
was  doomed  to  toil  at  the  loom,  the  crank,  the  forge,  the 
bench  and  the  wheel,  and  .pass  through  the  same  routine 
until  death  or  the  turnkey  came  to  his  relief,  and  apparently 
no  one  cared  for  his  soul  or  his  body.  Sometimes  the  inno 
cent  suffered  with  the  guilty,  and  often  the  guilty  were  pun 
ished  beyond  their  deserts.  But  the  sun  of  the  nineteenth 
century  now  illuminates  the  moral  heavens,  and  as  the  natu 
ral  sun  shines  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  even  so  do  the 
golden  rays  of  this  glorious  luminary  shine  through  4;he 
grated  window  of  the  prisoner's  cell,  and  the  true  light 
reveals  the  fact  that  the  convict  stained  with  sin  and  har 
nessed  with  iron,  is  our  brother.  He  has  been  badly  educa 
ted,  or  temptations  that  might  have  overcome  the  Pharisee 
that  scorns  him,  have  proved  his  ruin  ;  or  he  has  inherited 
from  his  parents  a  bad  organization  of  brain  ;  or  he  has 
9* 


110  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

voluntarily  surrendered  himself  into  the  hands  of  the  evil 
one ;  or  evil  communications  have  corrupted  his  good  man 
ners.  Although  a  criminal  he  is  an  object  of  commiseration. 

Mr.  Spear  not  only  sympathizes  with  these  violators  and 
victims  of  the  law,  but  he  gives  them  good  moral  lessons. 
When  they  are  arrested,  he  flies  to  their  assistance, —  pro 
cures  counsel,  or  pleads  their  case  himself.  If  they  are 
found  guilty,  he  labors  to  mitigate  their  punishment,  petitions 
for  pardons,  and  obtains  employment  for  them  when  their 
term  of  imprisonment  expires.  His  pen  and  purse,  his 
tongue  and  tune  are  given  freely,  cheerfully,  constantly,  to 
this  work  of  righteousness.  Carlyle  would  call  Mr.  Spear 
a  rose-water  reformer,  a  pink-and-senna  philanthropist,  a 
benevolent  Bedlamite, —  but  he  is  really  the  Howard  of 
America.  He  has  travelled  hundreds  of  miles,  collected 
thousands  of  dollars,  delivered  scores  of  speeches,  and 
written  volumes  of  pages,  to  defend  the  prisoner.  He  has 
shielded  the  innocent  from  impending  punishment,  and  alle 
viated  and  abbreviated  the  sufferings  of  the  guilty,  by  bring 
ing  to  light  palliating  circumstances  that  would  have  been 
buried  in  darkness.  During  the  session  of  the  Police  Court, 
he  may  be  found  among  the  lawyers  and  reporters,  prepared 
to  assist  the  unfortunate  and  the  guilty.  He  is  an  out-and- 
out  reformer,  and  is  not  afraid  to  assail  any  form  of  evil, 
however  large  its  bulk  or  hideous  its  horns.  He  is  a  sensi 
ble  speaker,  but  not  an  attractive  one ;  a  calm  reasoner,  but 
not  an  eloquent  one.  In  a  word,  he  is  a  plain,  practical, 
every-day  sort  of  a  man,  whose  look  and  manner  convinces 
one  of  his  sincerity. 

Not  unfrequently  Mr.  Spear  starts  off  from  the  city  into 
the  country,  without  knowing  beforehand  where  his  tour  will 
terminate.  He  travels  under  the  hallucination  that  an  invis 
ible  and  spiritual  agency  is  directing  him  to  a  destination 


CEAYON      SKETCHES.  Ill 

where  his  services  are  needed.  He  is  a  tall,  lean,  boney 
man,  with  a  black  wig,  a  sallow  skin,  and  a  mouthful  of  large 
teeth.  He  wears  a  "  can-I-help-you  ?  "  sort  of  a  look,  and 
speaks  so  gently  and  moderately,  the  listener,  if  ever  so 
much  excited  before,  becomes  calm  and  feels  at  home,  as  in 
the  presence  of  a  friend  and  a  brother.  He  is  a  Universa- 
list  minister,  a  temperance  lecturer,  an  abolition  promoter, 
an  anti-hanging,  anti-war  advocate.  His  brother  Charles  is 
just  like  him,  and  is  the  editor  of  the  Prisoner's  Friend,  a 
magazine,  ably  conducted.  These  brothers  are  as  much 
alike  as  the  Siamese  twins. 


JOHN   AUGUSTUS. 


JOHN  AUGUSTUS  is  the  drunkard's  friend.  Most  of  his 
time  is  spent  in  the  Police  Court.  When  the  unhappy  dis 
ciples  of  Bacchus  are  brought  into  court,  charged  with 
drunkenness,  they  are  usually  fined  two  dollars  and  costs  — 
the  whole  sum  amounting  to  five  dollars.  It  seldom  hap 
pens  that  a  common  street-drunkard  can  raise  that  amount 
of  money  immediately  after  a  "  spree,"  and  to  prevent  his 
being  sent  to  the  House  of  Correction,  where  he  would  be 
divorced  from  his  friends  and  disgraced  in  his  own  estima 
tion,  this  noble  philanthropist  steps  forward  with  the  funds 
in  one  hand  and  the  pledge  in  the  other,  and  in  many 
instances  succeeds  in  restoring  the  man  to  his  family,  and 
restraining  him  from  the  use  of  strong  drink  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Augustus  is  an  ordinary  looking  man.  His  hair, 
which  is  now  quite  grey,  hangs  like  a  mop  over  his  fore 
head,  as  though  he  determined  the  organ  of  benevolence,  like 
many  of  his  kind  deeds,  should  remain  unseen.  When  he 
goes  into  court,  his  face  looks  as  though  he  had  died  during 
the  night,  and  had  been  galvanized  into  life  before  he  got 
up  in  the  morning.  His  saffron-colored  skin  is  covered  with 
wrinkles,  from  the  tip  of  his  chin  to  the  top  of  his  forehead. 
In  that  respect  he  is  the  most  remarkable  man  I  ever  saw. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  113 

He  is  nervous  and  fidgety,  when  opposed.  His  labors  of 
love  are  appreciated  by  some  of  the  disinterested  philan 
thropists  of  Boston,  and  they  contribute  magnanimously  to 
sustain  him.  More  than  half  the  sum  expended  by  him,  in 
paying  fines  for  drunkenness,  is  refunded  by  the  parties  who 
have  been  benefitted  by  his  generosity.  Mr.  Augustus 
makes  no  pompous  display,  no  noisy  parade,  about  this  mat 
ter  ;  but  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year,  he  visits  the 
court  and  spends  his  time  in  watching  over  the  welfare  of 
the  down-fallen  and  degraded. 

Mr.  Augustus  is  a  good  man,  whose  heart  is  as  large  as 
his  head.  He  is  far  above  mediocrity,  in  point  of  "  good 
feeling."  The  "  prisoner's  friend "  and  the  "  drunkard's 
friend "  are  both  poor  men,  but  they  are  the  unfaltering 
defenders  of  the  humble  and  the  despised,  and  on  the  great 
day  of  account  many  will  rise  up  and  call  them  blessed ! 


FATHER  TAYLOR. 

Suoh  vast  Impressions  did  his  sermons  make, 

He  always  kept  his  flock  awake.          DK.  WOLCOTT. 

I  venerate  the  man  whose  heart  is  warm, 

Whose  hands  are  pure,  whose  doctrines  and  whose  life 

Coincident,  exhibit  lucid  proof 

That  he  is  honest  In  the  sacred  cause.  COWPKB. 

ONE  Sunday  morning  I  went  to  the  Sailors'  Chapel  in 
Boston,  to  see  and  hear  the  far-famed  mariner's  preacher, 
Father  Taylor.  He  was  reading  the  familiar  hymn  which 
commences  with  the  well-known  lines,  "  Come,  thou  fount  of 
every  blessing,"  when  I  entered  the  house  of  worship.  The 
choir  wedded  the  words  to  music  —  the  Divine  blessing  was 
invoked  —  a  chapter  was  read  —  and  then  the  sixteenth 
verse  of  the  third  chapter  of  Colossians  was  selected  as  the 
basis  of  the  discourse.  The  striking  peculiarities  of  the 
eccentric  and  celebrated  preacher  cannot  fail  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  seamen  and  landsmen  who  attend  his  church. 
He  rises  clumsily  from  the  sofa  in  the  pulpit,  and  puts  his 
fore-finger  on  the  text  as  though  he  anticipated  the  danger 
of  losing  it,  or  was  determined  to  stick  to  it.  After  reading 
it  distinctly  and  deliberately,  he  is  pretty  sure  to  raise  the 
spectacles  from  his  eyes  and  let  them  rest  over  the  organs 
of  causality. 

Father  Taylor  does  not  ape  the  clerical  stiffness  which  so 
ill-becomes  those  who  strive  to  make  up  in  dignity  what 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  110 

they  lack  in  devotion  and  intellect.  When  he  walks  the 
pulpit  floor,  like  a  caged  lion,  or  pounds  the  desk  with  his 
fists,  there  seems  to  be,  and  doubtless  is,  honesty  in  his  zeal. 
When  he  distorts  his  weather-beaten  face,  and  swings  his 
out-stretched  arms  about  him,  and  shakes  his  lean  fingers  in 
the  faces  of  his  hearers,  we  see  that  he  has  in  him  the  ele 
ments  of  a  good  actor.  He  is  an  odd  genius,  and  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  affirming  that  he  will  utter  more  wise  sayings 
and  more  sayings  that  are  otherwise,  in  a  single  sermon, 
than  any  other  man  in  Massachusetts.  Not  unfrequently  he 
mixes  his  pathos  and  humor  so  evenly,  the  listener  knows 
not  whether  to  laugh  or  weep.  One  minute  he  appeals  to 
Heaven,  in  a  strain  of  sublimity  that  excites  your  admiration 
and  astonishment ;  and  the  next  moment  he  appeals  to  Mr. 
Foster,  or  some  other  member  of  his  congregation,  in  a  style 
not  comporting  with  the  idea  most  men  have,  of  the  dignity 
of  the  pulpit.  Now,  with  compressed  lips,  grating  teeth  and 
flashing  eyes,  he  denounces  some  vice  or  some  heresy,  in 
words  steeped  in  a  solution  of  brimstone ;  and  then,  with  a 
smiling  countenance,  upturned  eyes  and  outspread  hands,  he 
lavishes  encomiums  on  hope,  faith,  love,  virtue,  piety.  Now 
he  pours  out  a  torrent  of  adjectives,  as  though  he  resolved 
to  exhaust  the  vocabulary ;  then  follows  a  stream  of  nouns, 
from  his  unfailing  Cochituate  of  language.  His  sermons 
are  ornamented  with  gems  of  poetry. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  sermon  I  heard  a  week 
or  two  since,  will  give  the  reader  a  tolerable  idea  of  his 
matter ; — his  manner  is  unreportable,  for  he  is  the  Booth  of 
the  Boston  pulpit.  "  Some  men,"  said  he,  "  will  lie  for  a 
glass  of  grog,  and  some  women  will  lie  for  a  cup  of  tea.  If 
God  respects  some  sinners  more  than  others,  there  will  be  a 
back  hole  in  hell  for  liars."  "  Who  are  so  low,  vile,  mean, 
hateful,  as  the  wholesale  dealers  and  the  retail  pedlars  in 


116  CKAYON     SKETCHES. 

lies  ?  "  He  prefaced  a  quotation  from  Proverbs  with  these 
words :  "  Solomon  was  a  wise  old  fellow,  although  he  had 
strange  notions  about  some  things."  Speaking  of  back 
sliders,  he  observed:  "They  slide  by  moonshining  and  de 
ceiving  themselves."  He  ridiculed,  with  bitter  severity,  the 
Oratorios  of  the  present  day ;  said  that  "  profane  lips  dared 
to  imitate  the  groans  of  Christ  upon  the  cross.  Infidels, 
with  instruments  of  music,  endeavoring  to  show  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  Saviour  in  the  garden — the  driving  of  the  nails, 
the  dripping  of  the  blood  upon  the  accursed  tree — and  they 
mimicked  the  blast  of  the  angel's  trumpet."  It  was  an  elo 
quent  and  just  rebuke  to  those  who  trifle  with  sacred  things. 
Father  Taylor  is  a  plain-looking  man,  and  his  bronzed 
face  is  strongly  marked.  He  is  now  in  the  sunset  of  life, 
and  his  head  is  thickly  sprinkled  with  grey  hairs.  When 
excited,  his  voice  is  harsh,  and  conveys  the  impression  to 
the  mind,  that  the  "  man  behind  it "  hates  the  Devil  more 
than  he  loves  Jesus.  He  is  volcanic,  and  is  often  guided 
more  by  impulse  than  by  intellect.  Although  he  is  in  the 
autumn  of  his  years,  he  can  perform  more  service,  endure 
more  hardship,  and  preach  better  sermons,  than  half  the 
young  preachers  of  the  present  day. 


.  €  S  H  ?>  JT  3  X«  -  -XX*  T  4  »  0 


ELIHU    BURKITT. 

i»jil  .:,-.' i'Lu-.-i;    .Jtl  lj  luu&rofrf  r-jfo  ni  y.'on  &i 

"  Our  country  is  the  world ;  our  countrymen  are  all  mankind."— ANON. 

A  SHORT  time  ago  the  friends  of  peace  called  a  meeting 
at  the  Park  Street  Church,  for  the  purpose  of  appointing 
delegates  to  attend  the  World's  Peace  Convention,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Maine.  In  consequence  of  the  inclemency  of 
the  weather,  and  the  un-business  like  manner  in  which  the 
meeting  was  advertised,  there  were  but  few  persons  present ; 
but  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  were  called  upon  to 
address  that  audience  might  have  consoled  themselves  with 
the  reflection  that  what  their  assembly  lacked  in  number  it 
made  up  in  talent,  learning,  influence,  and  moral  worth. 

The  chief  object  of  attraction,  at  this  meeting,  was  Elihu 
Burritt,  the  "  learned  blacksmith."  He  sat  on  the  first  seat 
opposite  the  pulpit,  with  his  back  toward  the  audience,  his 
head  resting  on  his  hand,  and  his  eyes  closed  most  of  the 
time,  during  the  delivery  of  the  speeches.  Thomas  Drew, 
Jr.,  immortalized  as  Burritt's  "  blower  and  striker "  at  the 
forge  and  anvil  of  reform,  was  busy  with  pencil  and  paper, 
in  one  of  the  side  pews.  The  hearers  waited  peaceably  but 
impatiently  for  Mr.  Burritt  to  take  the  rostrum,  and  when  it 
was  announced  that  he  would  speak,  every  countenance 
became  radiant  with  joyful  anticipation.  Mr.  Burritt  arose 
in  a  quiet,  unpretending  manner,  and  modestly  responded  to 
the  invitation  to  speak.  He  stood  on  the  top  stair  of  the 
10 


118  CEAYON     SKETCHES. 

pulpit,  and  at  first  seemed  to  shrink  back  bashfully  from  the 
gaze  of  the  upturned  faces  before  him.  Although  he  is  no 
coward,  I  have  no  doubt  his  heart  beat  as  though  it  would 
batter  a  breach  through  its  tenement  when  he  first  unsealed 
his  lips  in  the  presence  of  that  assembly.  In  fact,  the  con 
tour  of  his  face,  and  the  tones  of  his  voice,  are  the  tell-tales 
which  publish  his  lack  of  self-conceit. 

Mr.  Burritt  is  now  in  the  meridian  of  his  manhood,  but 
his  premature  baldness  is  his  apology  for  wearing  a  wig. 
He  has  a  towering  forehead,  but,  owing  to  the  large  devel 
opment  of  the  perceptive  faculties,  it  appears  to  retreat.  I 
think  his  eyes  are  blue,  when  they  do  not  blaze.  His  face 
indicates  perseverance  that  will  not  falter,  and  integrity  that 
will  not  disappoint.  He  speaks  slowly,  distinctly,  and  forci 
bly,  without  ever  uttering  a  foolish  thing.  He  has  a  pecu 
liarity  of  tone  which  is  unreportable,  but  which  tells  with 
thrilling  effect  on  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  when  he  enters 
earnestly  into  the  subject  he  discusses.  All  who  have  heard 
him  must  acknowledge  that  his  matter  is  as  full  of  thought 
as  an  egg  is  of  meat.  He  employs  facts  and  statistics  in  his 
speeches  and  editorials,  but  they  have  the  varied  beauty  of 
the  rainbow,  and  the  golden  glow  of  sunlight,  when  viewed 
through  the  prism  of  his  rich  imagination. 

The  following  extract  from  the  London  edition  of  the 
little  volume  entitled  "  Sparks  from  the  Anvil"  will  give  the 
reader  an  idea  of  Mr.  Burritt's  style  of  writing.  In  an 
article  on  temperance,  he  alludes  to  the  history  of  a  distin 
guished  statesman  who  had  been  snatched  as  a  brand  from 
the  liquid  burning :  — "  And  he  was  found,  with  all  the 
resuscitated  vigor  of  his  talents,  exhuming,  as  it  were,  his 
fellow  beings,  who,  like  him,  had  been  buried  before  they 
were  dead.  Massachusetts  welcomed  him  back  to  her  em 
brace  with  emotions  of  maternal  joy,  and  invited  the  return- 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  119 

ing  pleiad  to  resume  his  rank  among  the  stars  of  her  crown. 
The  doors  of  her  halls  and  churches  were  thrown  open  to 
the  newly-returning  prodigal,  and  many  were  touched  to  life 
and  salvation,  at  the  burning  eloquence  which  fell  from  his 
lips.  Sister  states  heard  of  this  new  Luther  in  temper 
ance,  and  he  obeyed  their  call.  He  stood  up  in  their  cities 
like  Paul  in  the  midst  of  Mars  Hill,  and,  with  an  eloquence 
approaching  inspiration,  set  forth  the  strange  doctrine  of 
total  abstinence."  That  man,  unfortunately,  was  led  astray 
by  fiends  in  human  form,  but  a  band  of  Washingtonians 
persuaded  him  to  sign  the  pledge  once  more,  and  this  time 
it  was  an  unviolated  policy  of  insurance  against  the  fires  of 
destruction.  He  concluded  that  graphic  sketch  in  the  fol 
lowing  words :  — "  That  man  is  again  a  giant,  and  he  is 
abroad  ;  look  out  for  him  !  Like  Samson,  he  is  feeling  for 
the  pillars  of  the  temple  of  Bacchus,  and  he  will  ere  long 
revenge  the  loss  of  his  locks  by  a  mighty  overthrow  of  that 
doomed  edifice." 

It  affords  the  writer  no  small  degree  of  pleasure  to  lift  up 
the  curtain  which  hangs  between  the  past  and  the  present, 
and  look  back  to  the  time  when  the  now  eminent  champion 
of  peace  first  put  on  his  paper  cap  and  leather  apron,  and 
made  the  forge  blaze  and  the  hammer  ring.  He  did  not 
dream,  then,  that  he  one  day  would  "  beat  swords  into 
plough-shares  and  spears  into  pruning-hooks."  His  friends 
did  not  at  that  time  give  him  credit  for  any  striking  mani 
festations  of  genius.  To  use  his  own  words,  he  was  a 
"  plodding,  patient,  persevering "  lad,  gathering  by  "  the 
process  of  accretion,  which  builds  the  ant-heap,  particle  by 
particle,  thought  by  thought,  fact  by  fact."  In  this  way  he 
worked  and  studied,  night  by  night,  for  years,  with  "  blis 
tered  hands  and  brightening  hope,"  at  lessons  which  have 


120  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

made  him  shine  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the  firma 
ment  of  fame. 

In  the  Summer  of  1838,  Governor  Everett,  of  Massachu 
setts,  in  an  address  to  an  association  of  mechanics  in  Boston, 
took  occasion  to  mention  that  a  blacksmith  of  that  State 
had,  by  his  unaided  industry,  made  himself  acquainted  with 
fifty  languages  !  Prior  to  this  announcement,  Mr.  Burritt 
had  lived  in  obscurity,  and  the  fame  of  his  acquirements 
did  not  extend  beyond  the  smoke  of  his  work-shop.  When 
Mr.  Nelson  called  on  Mr.  B.  at  Worcester,  he  found  him  at 
his  anvil.  When  told  what  the  Governor  had  reported 
respecting  him,  he  modestly  replied  that  the  Governor  had 
done  him  more  than  justice.  It  was  true,  he  said,  that  he 
could  read  about  fifty  languages,  but  he  had  not  studied 
them  all  critically.  Yankee  curiosity  had  induced  him  to 
look  at  the  Latin  Grammar ;  he  became  interested  in  it,  and 
persevered,  and  finally  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
that  language.  He  then  studied  the  Greek  with  equal  care. 
An  acquaintance  with  these  languages  had  enabled  him  to 
read,  with  equal  facility,  the  Italian,  the  French,  the  Span 
ish,  and  the  Portuguese.  The  Russian,  to  which  he  was 
then  devoting  his  odd  moments,  he  said,  was  the  most  diffi 
cult  of  any  he  had  undertaken.  He  went  to  Worcester  to 
secure  the  advantages  of  an  antiquarian  library,  to  which 
the  trustees  allowed  him  free  access.  He  spent  eight  hours 
at  the  forge,  eight  hours  in  the  library,  and  the  remaining 
eight  hours  of  each  day  in  recreation  and  rest.  After  he 
had  studied  Hebrew,  and  made  himself  acquainted  with  its 
cognate  languages — the  Syraic,  Chaldaic,  Arabic,  Samaritan, 
Ethiopic,  &c.,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  languages  of 
Europe,  and  studied  French,  Spanish,  Italian,  and  German, 
under  native  teachers.  He  then  pursued  the  Portuguese, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  121 

Flemish,  Danish,   Swedish,  Norwegian,   Icelandic,  "Welsh, 
Gaelic,  Celtic,  &c. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  a  man  who  has  devoted 
so  much  of  his  time  to  the  acquisition  of  languages  that  he 
is  a  living  portable  polyglott,  should  have  such  mighty 
mathematical  powers.  Figures  tumble  from  his  pen  like 
seeds  from  a  sack  when  the  string  is  untwined  from  its 
throat.  There  are  but  few  men  of  past  or  present  times, 
that  can  excel  him  in  description.  Take  the  following 
graphic  sketch  of  the  iron  horse,  as  a  specimen  of  his  skill 
in  that  department  of  literature  :  — 

"  I  love  to  see  one  of  these  creatures,  with  sinews  of  brass 
and  muscles  of  iron,  strut  forth  from  his  smoky  stable,  and 
saluting  the  long  train  of  cars  with  a  dozen  sonorous  puffs 
from  his  iron  nostrils,  fall  back  gently  into  his  harness. 
There  he  stands,  champing  and  foaming  upon  the  iron  track, 
his  great  heart  a  furnace  of  glowing  coals,  his  lymphatic 
blood  is  boiling  in  his  veins,  the  strength  of  a  thousand 
horses  is  nerving  his  sinews  —  he  pants  to  be  gone.  He 
would  '  snake '  St.  Peter's  across  the  desert  of  Sahara,  if  he 
could  be  fairly  hitched  to  it ;  but  there  is  a  little,  sober-eyed, 
tobacco-chewing  man  in  the  saddle,  who  holds  him  in  with 
one  finger,  and  can  take  away  his  breath  in  a  moment, 
should  he  grow  restive  or  vicious.  I  am  always  deeply 
interested  in  this  man,  for,  begrimed  as  he  may  be  with 
coal,  diluted  in  oil  and  steam,  I  regard  him  as  the  genius  of 
the  whole  machinery,  as  the  physical  mind  of  that  huge 
steam-horse." 

Mr.  Burritt  believes  that  God  has  made  of  one  blood  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  he  aims  to  unite  them  by  the 
fraternal  chain  of  brotherhood.  He  looks  upon  war  as  an 
inexcusable  evil,  and  labors  manfully  for  its  extirpation. 
He  would  dismantle  the  arsenal,  disband  the  army,  spike 
10* 


122  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

the  cannon,  and  reforge  the  cutlass  ;  he  would  take  our  ships 
of  war  and  "  lade  them  down  to  the  water's  edge  with  food 
and  covering  for  human  beings."  "  The  ballast  should  be 
round  clams,  or  the  real  quahaugs,  heavy  as  cast  iron,  and 
capital  for  roasting.  Then  he  would  build  along  up,  filling 
every  square  inch  with  well-cured  provisions.  He  would 
have  a  hogshead  of  bacon  mounted  into  every  port-hole, 
each  of  which  should  discharge  fifty  hams  a  minute,  when 
the  ship  was  brought  into  action  ;  and  the  state-rooms  should 
be  filled  with  well-made  garments,  and  the  taut  cordage  and 
the  long  tapering  spars  should  be  festooned  with  boy's  jack 
ets  and  trousers.  Then,  when  there  should  be  no  more 
room  for  another  cod-fish  or  herring,  or  sprig  of  catnip,  he 
would  run  up  the  white  flag  of  peace.  He  would  throw  as 
many  hams  into  the  city  in  twenty-four  hours  as  there  were 
bomb-shells  and  cannon  balls  thrown  into  Keil  by  the  be 
sieging  armies ;  he  would  barricade  the  low,  narrow  streets 
with  loaves  of  bread ;  would  throw  up  a  breast-work,  clear 
around  the  market-place,  of  barrels  of  flour,  pork  and  beef, 
and  in  the  middle  raise  a  stack  of  salmon  and  cod-fish  as 
large  as  a  small  Methodist  meeting-house,  with  a  steeple  to 
it,  and  a  bell  in  the  steeple,  and  the  bell  should  ring  to  all 
the  city  bells,  and  the  city  bells  should  ring  to  all  the  people 
to  come  to  market  and  buy  provisions,  without  money  and 
without  price.  And  white  flags  should  every  where  wave 
in  the  breeze  —  on  the  vanes  of  steeples,  on  mast-heads,  on 
flag-stones  along  the  embattled  walls,  on  the  ends  of  willow 
sticks,  borne  by  the  romping,  laughing,  trooping  children. 
All  the  blood-colored  drapery  of  war  should  bow  and  blush 
before  the  stainless  standard  of  peace,  and  generations  of 
Anglo-Saxons  should  remember,  with  mutual  felicitations, 
the  conquest  of  the  white  flag,  or  the  storming  of  Quebec." 
Mr.  Burritt  has  made  his  mark  upon  this  age  —  a  mark 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  123 

which  time  will  not  erase.  His  society  is  .courted  by  the 
great  men  of  Europe  and  America.  He  quietly  suggests 
a  world's  convention,  and  Senators,  members  of  Parliament, 
Baronets,  and  crowned  heads,  hearken  to  his  counsels.  He 
is  the  same  great  and  good  man,  whether  in  the  smithy, 
talking  with  the  hard-handed  nailers,  or  in  the  magnificent 
forum,  pleading  for  peace,  in  presence  of  the  dignitaries  of 
the  land.  He  strives  to  smite  off  the  clanking  manacles 
from  the  uplifted  hands  of  the  bleeding  slave,  and  to  strike 
down  the  monster  that  wades  in  blood,  and  to  build  up  the 
temple  of  universal  peace,  and  to  weld  the  world  in  an  un 
broken  band  of  eternal  brotherhood.  He  sees  a  spirit  of 
selfishness  abroad  that  would  rob  earth  of  its  flowers  and 
heaven  of  its  lights,  disinherit  the  angels,  uncrown  the 
Almighty,  and  sit  upon  the  throne  of  the  universe.  So  he 
has  unfurled  the  white  banner,  and  is  now  leading  the  crusa 
ders  of  a  good  cause,  to  a  battle  where  no  blood  will  be 
shed,  but  where  that  evil,  selfish  spirit  will  be  subdued,  and 
peace  shall  triumph  ! 


,miif  ewbtl  «,JA  no  a^IA  ojlil  josou  ->b*^J 


THURLOW  WEED   BROWN. 


THDRLOW  WEED  BROWN  is  the  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Cayuga  Chief,  a  spicy  and  spirited  sheet,  published  at 
Auburn,  New  York.  Mr.  Brown  is  one  of  the  most  notice 
able  men  in  the  Empire  State.  He  is  remarkable  for  indom 
itable  perseverance,  steam-engine  energy,  and  unfaltering 
courage.  It  is  quite  evident  nature  designed  him  for  a 
leader,  and  he  knows  it ;  consequently,  he  not  only  com 
mands  the  white-skins,  but  is  "  Chief  of  the  Cayugas  "  also. 

With  no  education  but  such  as  he  picked  up  in  a  common 
school  in  the  country,  and  no  capital  but  that  of  brains  and 
bones,  he  has  established  on  a  permanent  basis  one  of  the 
raciest  reform  journals  in  the  realm  of  newspaperdom. 

Although  obstacles  arose,  like  Alps  on  Alps  before  him, 
he  bravely  surmounted  them,  and  pursued  the  uneven  tenor 
of  his  way  —  bringing  the  timid  time-servers  and  purse- 
proud  pretenders  who  opposed  him,  to  their  marrow-bones. 

He  is  rough  and  brilliant,  like  a  rock  abounding  with  dia 
monds  ;  few  men  living  have  more  power  of  origination,  — 
and  I  hazard  the  assertion  that  he  has  written  and  spoken 
as  many  queer,  witty,  pithy,  pointed  and  brilliant  sentiments 
as  any  man  of  his  age  in  his  native  State.  It  is  generally 
acknowledged,  by  those  who  read  his  paper,  that  he  com 
mands  a  fascinating  pen.  Who  ever  saw  a  copy  of  the 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  125 

Chief,  out  of  his  office,  unfolded  and  unread  ?  It  is  true 
that  he  is  not  always  classically  correct,  in  all  he  says  and 
writes,  and  yet  he  makes  fewer  mistakes  than  many  of  our 
college-bred  literati.  The  trees,  with  their  branches  point 
ing  to  the  land  of  living  spirits,  and  their  roots  pointing  to 
the  land  of  dead  bodies,  have  been  his  teachers ;  and  he  has 
read  the  poetry  of  God  in  the  country,  written  in  letters  of 
lilies,  violets,  and  roses.  Nature  has  spoken  to  him  from 
beak  and  brook,  and  cloud  and  cataract,  and  he  hearkened 
to  her  voice,  and  ever  worships  at  her  sylvan  altar.  There 
is  the  tinge  of  an  opulent  fancy  glowing  in  his  speeches  and 
gleaming  in  his  essays.  Not  long  since,  he  awoke  one  fine 
morning  and  found  himself  famous,  as  an  orator.  His 
speeches  consist  of  stirring  appeals,  strong  arguments,  and 
appropriate  anecdotes  —  tied  together  with  poetical  senti 
ments.  "  If  you  disregard  our  petitions  this  year,"  said  he, 
addressing  the  Legislature  at  Albany,  "  next  year  we  will 
send  petitions  here  with  boots  on."  Did  the  limits  of  my 
book  permit,  I  would  furnish  some  specimens  of  his  style. 
One  thing  I  wish  to  notice :  he  is  sometimes  careless,  and 
allows  his  pen  to  gallop,  unbitted,  over  column  after  column 
of  editorial  matter ;  and  he  rarely,  perhaps  never,  re- writes 
an  article. 

And  I  may  say  here,  that  his  speeches  are  uneven.  In 
one  place  he  will  deliver  a  thrilling  speech  —  full  of  humor, 
wit,  pathos,  and  argument  —  in  another  place  he  will  be 
devoid  of  unction,  and  his  address  will  be  insipid  as  the 
essence  of  flat-irons.  Such  is  apt  to  be  the  case  with  all 
men  of  true  genius.  Your  mediocrity  men  are  always  the 
same ;  they  never  soar  above  their  hats,  and  never  dive 
below  their  boots. 

Mr.  Brown  is  now  in  the  prime  of  life,  —  a  man  of  ordi 
nary  stature  and  ordinary  features.  He  has  a  large,  well- 


126  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

balanced  head,  a  long,  rough,  honest  face,  blue  eyes,  broad, 
high  forehead,  brown  hair,  and  plenty  of  it  —  not  only  on 
his  head  but  on  his  face,  in  the  form  of  whiskers  and  goatee. 
In  conversation,  he  is  sociable,  pleasant,  gentle  and  modest, 
almost  awkward  —  in  consequence  of  his  bashfulness.  His 
pen  is  pugnacious,  and  while  it  pricks  like  the  quill  of  a 
porcupine,  it  now  and  then  drops  a  blot  of  egotism  on  the 
page  it  writes. 

Mr.  Brown  will  never  die  of  the  consumption,  for  the  en 
largement  of  his  heart  has  caused  an  expansion  of  the  chest. 
May  he  long  live,  to  punish  the  wicked  —  whether  they  look 
from  the  gothic  window  of  a  wine-palace,  or  the  grated  win 
dow  of  a  prison. 


. 


EDWARD    BEECHER 

"}c  'i'lbtti.-  :••>  .';.}  .'si"  'i[;>-*r-fff  *>nfT"?'fm  'io 

Oh,  what  Is  man,  Great  Maker  of  mankind '. 

That  Thou  to  him  so  great  respect  dost  bear, — 
That  Thou  adorn'st  him  with  so  bright  a  mind, 
Makest  him  a  king,  and  e'en  an  angel's  peer  I 

SIB.  JOHN  DAVIES. 

EDWARD  BEECHER  is  a  close  thinker,  a  cogent  reasoner, 
an  impassioned  speaker.  His  sermons  are  not  elegant  essays, 
got  up  for  the  entertainment  of  his  hearers.  They  are  not 
blank  verse  wire-drawn  into  very  blank  prose ;  not  pearls 
and  diamonds  and  precious  stones,  all  stolen  except  the 
string  that  ties  them  together.  They  are  true-blue,  orthodox 
sermons,  full  of  Beecher,  truth,  spirit,  and  scripture.  They 
are  living,  breathing,  talking  sermons  —  famous  for  great 
thoughts  and  simple  words. 

Mr.  Beecher  is  a  fluent  and  forcible  speaker,  and  makes 
use  of  the  simplest  (not  always  the  purest)  Saxon  in  his 
discourses.  In  his  happiest  mood  his  voice  is  often  raised 
to  a  high  pitch,  and  he  soars  with  untiring  wing  higher,  and 
higher  still,  and  still  higher,  until  his  head  is  among  the 
stars,  and  his  face  —  like  the  countenance  of  Moses  on  the 
mountain  —  reflects  the  radiance  of  inspiration.  He  not 
unfrequently  produces  a  thrilling  effect  by  reiterated  strokes, 
and  by  presenting  epithet  after  epithet,  figure  after  figure, 
fact  after  fact,  argument  after  argument,  appeal  after  appeal, 
which  flow  on  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  exciting  the  alarm 
of  the  unconverted  who  have  spread  their  sail  upon  the 


128  CBAYON     SKETCHES. 

waters  of  life,  without  provisions  or  pilot,  and  exciting  the 
admiration  of  those  who  have,  and  those  who  hope  they 
have  fair  prospects  for  reaching  the  haven  of  rest. 

Mr.  Beecher  has  studied  mental  philosophy,  and  is  well 
versed  in  theology ;  has  considerable  knowledge  of  the  ways 
of  the  world,  for,  unlike  many  of  his  cloth,  he  does  not  deem 
it  a  duty  to  shut  himself  up  in  his  study  continually,  for  fear 
of  rendering  himself  "  too  common  "  to  excite  the  wonder  of 
the  people  on  the  Sabbath.  There  are  some  clergymen  who 
keep  themselves  as  wild  as  beasts  are  kept  in  a  menagerie ; 
you  cannot  see  them  without  a  ticket,  and  then  you  must 
keep  at  a  respectable  distance.  Why,  it  is  more  difficult  to 
obtain  an  interview  with  some  ministers,  than  it  is  to  have 
a  tete-a-tete  with  the  Pope  of  Rome !  If  Paul,  with  his 
hands  hardened  at  tent-making,  or  Peter,  fresh  from  his 
fishing-tackle,  were  to  solicit  an  opportunity  to  preach  in 
their  pulpits,  they  would  give  Peter  and  Paul  such  a  re 
sponse  as  the  Pharisees  of  old  gave  them.  Dr.  Beecher  is 
not  one  of  that  class  of  spiritual  teachers.  You  will  see 
him  in  the  streets,  and  at  the  exchange,  in  the  reading- 
rooms,  in  the  police  court,  at  the  public  meetings  in  Faneuil 
Hall  and  Tremont  Temple.  He  is  a  sociable,  accessible, 
generous  man,  and  capital  company  where  Iw  is  sufficiently 
acquainted  to  "  unbend  the  monkish  brow."  It  is  because 
he  mingles  with  the  people  that  he  is  in  advance  of  many 
of  his  clerical  brethren. 

But  Edward  Beecher,  like  the  rest  of  us  poor  mortals, 
has  faults.  He  often  seems  to  attempt  to  work  up  his  feel 
ings  to  a  pitch  of  intense  excitement.  Under  such  circum 
stances  there  will  be  noise  without  eloquence,  extreme 
gesture  without  extreme  unction.  In  that  way  he  exchan 
ges  the  sublime  for  the  sledge-hammer  style.  He  has  a 
good  share  of  moral  courage.  Like  his  brother,  the 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  129 

"  Thunderer  "  in  Brooklyn,  he  assails  with  tongue  and  pen, 
from  the  pulpit  and  the  press,  the  tergiversation,  the  coat- 
turning,  the  mouse-ing,  the  meanness  of  public  men,  who, 
for  laurels  or  lucre,  basely  betray  their  country  with  a 
kiss. 

The  Brooklyn  Beecher  is  almost  constantly  throwing  shot, 
and  shell  into  the  camp  and  court  of  the  enemy.  Some 
poor  fool  in  his  congregation  became  offended  with  him,  the 
other  day,  because  he  publicly  rebuked  the  recreancy  of  a 
prominent  politician  who  recently  betrayed  his  country,  and 
put  a  crown  of  thorns  on  the  bleeding  brow  of  humanity. 
This  nervous  simpleton  put  down  on  paper  the  unpalatable 
sentiments  he  could  not  swallow,  and  had  them  published ; 
and  Sir  Oracle,  the  editor,  in  all  the  pomp  of  pigmy  gran 
deur,  undertook  to  lecture  H.  W.  Beecher  on  the  duties  of 
preachers  !  His  labors  were  lost ;  for  it  does  not  run  in  the 
blood  of  the  Beechers  to  be  frightened  at  pop-guns  in  the 
arms  of  grasshoppers.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  speaking  of 
his  two  distinguished  sons,  said,  Edward  fires  forty-pounders, 
and  woe  betide  the  man  that  he  hits.  Henry  fires  grape- 
shot,  and  kills  the  most  men. 

Edward  Beecher  is  in  the  zenith  of  his  manhood.  He 
has  used  his  brains  more  than  he  has  his  teeth,  consequently 
his  head  looks  older  than  his  face.  His  hair  is  now  turning 
grey ;  his  forehead  is  broad  and  high,  and  indicates  extraor 
dinary  intellectual  power ;  his  eyes  are  large  and  expressive, 
and  burn  like  meteors,  when  he  hides  himself  behind  the 
cross  and  pleads  earnestly  for  the  welfare  of  men  and  the 
glory  of  God.  He  is  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Gongrega- 
tionalist,  a  religious  journal  of  great  merit.  He  is  also 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Salem  Street.  At  one  period  of  his 
life,  he  was  President  of  one  of  the  Western  colleges.  He 
is  a  man  of  unimpeachable  purity,  has  a  highly  cultivated 
11 


130  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

and  strong  mind,  and  is  esteemed  and  honored  in  the  walks 
of  private  and  public  life.  Go  and  hear  him,  and  he  will 
prove,  beyond  doubt,  that  whatever  is  lovely  in  innocence, 
pure  in  virtue,  good  in  morality,  thrilling  in  eloquence,  sub 
lime  in  poetry,  or  holy  in  truth,  may  be  found  in  the 
Bible. 


HENRY    WARD    BEECHER. 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  is  one  of  the  boldest  thinkers 
and  bravest  speakers  in  America.  He  not  only  wages  war 
with  unpopular  vices,  but  has  the  courage  to  seize  national 
evils  by  the  throat ;  the  mealy-mouthed  Janus-faced  politi 
cian,  while  fishing  for  votes  and  catching  suckers  in  the  ale 
house,  he  holds  up  to  everlasting  indignation  and  contempt ; 
the  gambler,  who  in  the  great  game  of  life  "  stakes  his  soul 
and  lets  the  devil  win  it ; "  the  lecherous  libertine,  whose 
look  is  lust,  whose  touch  is  pollution ;  the  miser,  who  cheats 
the  pale  sewing  girl,  and  defrauds  his  apprentice ;  the 
drunkard  ;  the  death-dealer  ;  the  oppressor,  are  all  scourged 
by  him ;  and  every  word  he  speaks  is  a  blow ;  every  blow 
inflicts  a  wound.  Were  he  more  ambitious  than  religious, 
he  might  employ  the  irreverent  language  of  Pope,  and  say, 

"  Yes,  I  am  proud  to  sec 
Men  not  afraid  of  God,  afraid  of  me." 

Mr.  Beecher  has  studied  the  great  folio  of  nature,  and  he 
can  read  men,  whether  they  be  bound  in  boards,  sheep,  or 
calf.  He  seems  to  be  acquainted  with  the  haunts  and  the 
habits,  the  slang  and  the  signs  of  the  great  army  of  sinners. 
He  never  was  a  drunkard,  but  he  speaks  like  one  fresh  from 
the  spirit  land;  he  never  was  a  gambler,  yet  he  speaks 


132  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

about  high,  low,  jack  and  the  game,  as  though  he  had  studied 
the  pack  as  well  as  THE  BOOK  ;  he  never  was  a  dandy,  but 
he  knows  "  how  such  die  of  a  rose  in  aromatic  pain  ; "  he 
never  was  a  demagogue,  yet  he  knows  how  to  unmask  the 
demagogue.  Mr.  Beecher's  invaluable  lectures  to  young 
men  comprise  one  of  the  richest  galleries  of  word-painting 
to  be  found  in  the  world  of  literature.  Now  he  shews  us 
an  obese,  greasy,  wheezing,  broken-down  political  hack ; 
then  a  ripe,  rosy,  plump,  luscious  rascal,  "whose  spotted 
hide  covers  a  tiger ; "  here  we  see  a  lank,  lean  miser,  who 
would  fling  his  last  penny  into  his  chest,  sit  upon  the  lid  and 
swallow  the  key  for  fear  he  might  lose  it ;  there  we  see  the 
drunkard,  with  his  floating  eyes  and  fiery  face,  &c.,  &c. 

Mr.  Beecher  has  a  style  of  his  own ;  it  is  more  figurative 
than  argumentative,  more  popular  than  classical.  He  has  a 
fervid  imagination,  and  although  he  seldom  soars  to  the  sub 
lime,  the  beautiful  is  quite  accessible  to  him ;  his  humor  is 
like  a  spirited  colt — difficult  to  ride  and  hard  at  the  mouth, 
sheering  from  the  road  frequently  at  the  sight  of  its  own 
shadow.  He  has  great  power  of  origination,  and  the  skill  to 
Beecherize  what  he  borrows  until  it  becomes  his  own.  His 
mind  is  not  a  mint  where  every  piece  of  metal  bears  the 
impression  of  a  die,  but  a  mine  where  gold  can  be  obtained 
by  the  ingot ;  and  he  is  a  fool,  and  not  an  alchymist,  who 
rejects  it  because  there  is  some  dross  mixed  with  the 
precious  ore. 

He  is  a  popular,  but  not  an  eloquent  speaker  ;  his  matter 
is  more  entertaining  than  his  manner.  He  is  graphic, 
thrilling,  earnest,  forcible,  but  the  burden  of  his  reputation 
seems  to  encumber  him.  Could  he  drop  the  load  and  still 
retain  the  fame,  as  Christian  did  his  bundle  while  he  kept 
the  roll,  he  would  be  eloquent  as  he  is  famous.  When  he 
goes  from  his  closet  to  his  pulpit,  he  has  great  power  over 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  133 

the  minds  of  his  hearers ;  his  sermons  peninsulate  the 
preacher  with  the  congregation. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  more  courage  than  most 
men  of  his  cloth.  While  some  of  his  cotemporaries  made 
an  auction  block  of  the  pulpit,  and  sold  the  Saviour  in  the 
person  of  the  slave,  for  a  few  pieces  of  silver,  or  for  fear  of 
offending  the  "  silver  greys,"  he  uncringingly  denounced  the 
damnable  deed,  and  employed  his  prolific  pen  and  tongue  in 
defending  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed.  His  sermons 
and  editorials  are  not  still-born  ;  they  have  open  eyes  and 
throbbing  hearts,  and  they  will  continue  to  live  and  speak, 
when  the  wicked  efforts  of  those  who  betray  humanity  will 
be  forgotten  ;  or  if  remembered,  remembered  with  scorn. 

Mr.  Beecher  is  about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  of  common 
size  and  stature ;  has  brown  hair,  blue  eyes,  pale  complex 
ion  ;  a  noble  head,  and  thoughtful  face.  He  puts  on  no 
awkward  airs  of  assumed  dignity,  but  is  sociable,  pleasant, 
and  communicative.  He  is  not  only  admired,  but  loved  by 
the  people  of  his  charge.  I  will  conclude  this  imperfect 
and  hasty  sketch,  in  the  words  of  Hood,  — 

"  Thrice  blessed  Is  the  man  with  whom 
The  gracious  prodigality  of  nature— 
The  balm,  the  bliss,  the  beauty,  and  the  bloom, 
The  beauteous  Providence  in  every  feature  — 
Recall  the  good  Creator  to  his  creature ; 
Making  all  earth  a  fane,  all  heaven  its  dome !  " 


11* 


MASSACHUSETTS   STATE   OFFICIALS. 

GEORGE  S.  BOTJTWELL,  Governor  of  the  State,  was  born 
in  Brookline,  in  1818.  Opened  a  shop  in  Groton,  where  he 
sold  innumerable  articles  of  domestic  use.  A  real  son  of 
the  Bay  State  —  thrifty,  prudent,  sensible,  shrewd,  "  knows- 
a-thing-or-two."  Liked  very  much  by  his  townsmen  ;  sent 
to  the  Legislature,  for  the  first  time,  in  1842,  and  soon  made 
an  impression.  An  able  debater,  skilful  tactician,  confiden 
tial  leader  of  his  party,  (Democratic,)  then  in  a  minority. 
"Was  often  appointed  on  some  very  responsible  committees, 
and,  in  later  years,  on  some  of  the  most  important  com 
missions  established  by  the  Legislature. 

In  1851,  the  Coalition  made  him  Governor,  the  considera 
tion  being  that  Mr.  Suinner  should  be  the  United  States 
Senator.  He  has  discharged  his  duties  admirably.  Affects 
popularity ;  seldom  refuses  to  be  present  where  invited,  and 
is  fond  of  military  displays,  agricultural  fairs,  educational 
demonstrations,  &c.  He  is  a  temperance  man ;  liberal  in 
politics,  though  too  cautious  in  speaking  out  his  honest  con 
victions  ;  looks  too  much  to  his  own  popularity.  It  is  said 
a  portion  of  his  inaugural  address  was  examined  by  alarmed 
politicians.  Nevertheless  he  has  much  merit  as  a  citizen,  a 
magistrate,  and  a  man.  He  wants  to  go  to  the  United 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  135 

States  Senate  for  the  next  six  years,  (but  probably  can't,) 
as  he  has  signified  he  shall  not  again  be  a  candidate  for 
Governor.  Has  a  firm  reliance  in  the  popular  expression. 
He  is  hi  faith,  a  Unitarian ;  in  works,  a  Utilitarian ;  in 
ideas,  a  Trinitarian. 

AMASA  WALKER,  for  the  last  and  present  year  Secre 
tary  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  was  born  in 
Woodstock,  Conn.,  in  1799.  He  first  entered  the  Legisla 
ture  in  1849.  Now  resides  in  North  Brookfield.  Was 
originally  a  Democrat,  but  early  left  that  party  and  united 
with  the  Liberty  party.  In  1848  he  was  active  in  establish 
ing  the  Free  Soilers.  Is  a  large  boot  manufacturer,  in 
connection  with  his  brother  Freeman,  and  doing  an  immense 
business.  Has  no  trouble  in  getting  Southern  custom,  not 
withstanding  his  Free  Soilism ;  he  knows  that  Southerners 
won  't  go  barefoot,  (although  they  do  not  live  in  a  free  coun 
try,)  for  the  sake  of  prejudice,  and  they  can 't  manufacture 
boots  themselves. 

Mr.  Walker  was  formerly  a  resident  of  Boston,  and  active 
as  a  merchant.  Deeply  interested  in  all  moral  enterprises, 
he  was  in  early  life  associated  with  a  society  of  young  men, 
who,  by  writing  articles  for  the  newspapers,  public  addresses, 
&c.,  manufactured  public  opinion  to  a  degree  that  removed 
all  booths  from  the  Common,  on  election  and  other  holidays, 
redeemed  Beacon  Hill  from  its  then  disgraceful  reputation, 
and  otherwise  blessed  the  community.  An  early  temper 
ance  advocate,  a  strong  anti-slavery  man,  an  eloquent  peace 
advocate,  —  in  fact,  one  of  Elihu  Burritt's  life-guards;  a 
friend  of  the  abolition  of  the  gallows  —  all  from  principle. 
Clear-headed,  forcible,  decided;  a  true  republican,  a  real 
democrat,  of  and  for  the  people.  In  1849  he  was  sent  as  a 
Delegate  to  the  World's  Peace  Convention,  at  Paris.  As 


136  CRAYON      SKETCHES. 

Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  he  never  had  a  superior ; 
everything  is  in  No.  1  order.  As  a  legislator,  he  is  one  of 
the  ablest.  He  is  the  father  of  the  Secret  Ballot  law,  and 
also  of  many  popular  measures.  In  person,  tall  and  thin. 

HENRY  WILSON,  now  President  of  the  Senate,  is  a  native 
of  the  Granite  State.  He  has  seen  life  in  various  phases, 
having  been  School  Teacher,  Shoe  Manufacturer,  Member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Stump  Speaker,  State 
Senator,  Delegate  to  the  Whig  National  Convention,  Chair 
man  of  the  Free  Soil  State  Committee,  General  of  the 
Third  Brigade,  &c.,  &c.  He  is  well  skilled  in  Military  and 
Political  Tactics.  As  a  speaker  he  succeeds  admirably, 
because  he  does  not  attempt  to  pass  for  more  than  he  is 
worth,  and  he  exhibits  that  plain,  practical  common  sense, 
which  Massachusetts  men  never  fail  to  appreciate.  He  has 
the  faculty  of  dove-tailing  one  thought  into  another,  and 
welding  link  after  link  into  the  chain  of  argument,  with 
which  he  binds  his  opponent,  which  is  quite  alarming  to 
political  dandies. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  not  more  than  forty  years  of  age,  and  yet  he 
has  risen  from  humble  life  to  an  honored  chair  in  the  Senate 
Chamber ;  and  this  marvellous  feat  has  been  accomplished 
without  the  assistance  of  high  social  position,  or  lofty  educa 
tional  attainments.  He  has  not  yet  attained  his  full  growth, 
—  there  is  a  shining  future  before  him. 

He  is  a  modest  man  and  never  forgets  an  old  friend  — 
never  assumes  an  aristocratic  or  patronizing  air.  There  is 
none  of  that  lack-a-daisical  insipidity  or  miminee  piminee 
style  of  flash-and-go-out  brilliancy,  which  too  frequently 
characterize  men  who  are  suddenly  elevated  to  posts  of 
honor. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  a  fresh,  hearty  man,  in  the  zenith  of  life. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  137 

He  is  about  five  feet  nine  inches  in  height,  well  proportioned, 
and  his  frame  indicates  great  vitality,  strength,  and  endur 
ance.  His  head  is  somewhat  bald  on  the  crown ;  his  fore 
head  white  and  broad ;  hair  dark ;  eyes  darker ;  cheeks 
ruddy ;  and  lips  red  and  full.  He  converses  and  presides 
well  and  impartially,  without  any  swelling  efforts  at  magis 
terial  dignity.  May  his  shadow  never  be  less  ! 

"     •  ;     - 

EDWARD  L.  KEYES,  the  "  rabid  "  reformer,  sits  next  to 
Judge  Warren.  He  is  the  editor  of  the  Dedham  Gazette, 
one  of  the  most  spirited  weeklies  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  Mr.  Keyes  has  just  risen,  to  explain  and  defend 
the  Maine  Law  bill.  He  is  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  a  pleasant 
face  which  is  lit  up  with  a  pair  of  dark,  dreamy  eyes.  I 
discovered  a  few  threads  of  silver  in  his  dark  hair.  How 
he  stretches  out  his  arms  and  shakes  his  lean  fingers  in  the 
faces  of  his  fellow  Senators !  He  gives  the  Judge  slap  after 
slap  in  the  face  ;  —  the  recipient  of  the  blows  not  relishing 
such  a  flagellation,  whirls  his  chair  around  and  turns  his 
back  upon  the  orator  —  but  the  lash  of  adders  falls  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  victim,  and  vitriol  is  poured  upon  the 
red  and  gaping  wounds. 

Keyes  is  ferociously  sarcastic ;  he  leads  the  subject  of  his 
sarcasm  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  skins  it  alive,  re 
gardless  of  its  imploring  looks.  See  the  Judge  scowl,  and 
twirl  his  spectacles,  and  shift  his  position ;  but  Keyes  keeps 
on,  every  word  is  a  wasp  buzzing  in  the  ear  and  stinging  to 
the  quick ;  —  there  is  electricity  in  his  utterance.  I  am 
sorry  that  he  now  leaves  the  question  before  the  Senate  to 
defend  the  "  Coalitionists."  Such  a  course  is  untimely,  and 
uncalled  for,  and  almost  unpardonable  ;  the  temperance  ques 
tion  need  not  become  a  party  question. 

Mr.  Keyes  is  a  brilliant  man  —  violent,  vituperative,  and 


138  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

eloquent.  His  voice  is  deep  and  clear,  and  has  that  peculiar 
intonation  which  indicates  that  a  man  stands  behind  it. 
He  flings  the  burning  fluid  of  his  indignation  in  every  di 
rection,  and  it  burns  in  the  hearts  and  on  the  faces  of  Sena 
tors  and  spectators,  "  one  half  of  whom  are  ready  to  fight, 
and  the  other  half  ready  to  hurrah." 

CHARLES  H.  WARREN  —  the  mouth-piece  of  the  million 
aires  of  Boston  —  has  just  arrived  and  taken  his  seat,  on 
the  left  side  of  the  President's  chair.  If  he  is  a  man  of 
common  calibre,  then  there  is  no  truth  in  physiognomy  or 
phrenology.  The  firm  step,  the  compressed  lip,  denote  obsti 
nate  energy ;  the  towering  forehead  and  beaming  eyes  indi 
cate  extraordinary  force  of  intellect.  The  Judge  is  nearly 
sixty  years  of  age,  with  a  silver-grey  head,  bald  on  the 
crown;  blue  eyes,  patrician  mouth;  is  short,  stout,  and 
firmly  built,  dresses  neatly,  and  looks  like  a  "  fine  old  Eng 
lish  gentleman."  He  is  an  irresistible  wag,  and  the  fun  he 
makes  to  match  the  arguments  arrayed  against  his  reprehen 
sible  course  on  the  Liquor  Bill,  reminds  one  of  the  fiddling 
of  Nero  while  Rome  was  on  fire. 

He  brings  down  the  house  in  roars  of  laughter,  so  as  to 
startle  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  who  looks  as  though  he  would 
be  after  the  outsiders  with  a  sharp  stick,  unless  they 
governed  their  risible  faculties.  Still,  he  trembles  while  he 
rattles  off  his  jokes,  and  looks  like  a  man  just  taken  from 
the  whipping  post,  who  cracks  his  ban-mots  while  the  blood 
is  streaming  from  his  wounds.  Doubtless  his  object  is  to 
divert  the  attention  of  the  hearers,  but  it  is  evident  he  has 
no  sympathy  with  the  masses.  He  is  elegant  in  his  manner, 
and  eloquent  in  his  utterance  —  brimful  and  running  over 
with  genuine  wit  —  dealing  out  his  jokes  as  Sancho,  in 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  139 

Don  Quixote,  ladled  out  fat  pullets  and  fat  geese  from  the 
soup  kettles,  every  time  he  made  a  dip. 

MYRON  LAWRENCE  is  the  oldest  member  and  the  largest 
man  in  the  Senate.  If  size  of  body  infallibly  indicate  equal 
mental  and  moral  capacity,  he  is  large  enough  to  represent 
more  than  one  constituency,  for  he  is  a  man  "  with  Atalan- 
tean  shoulders  fit  to  bear  the  weight  of  mightiest  monarch 
ies."  His  address  is  bold,  frank,  full  of  bon  hommie,  afford 
ing  unmistakable  evidence  that  his  soul  is  not  dispropor- 
tioned  to  the  magnitude  of  his  physical  organization.  Speak 
ing  of  himself,  he  says  he  has  a  hide  like  a  rhinoceros ;  — 
if  he  really  thinks  so,  he  does  not  properly  understand  him 
self,  for  he  is  sensitive  and  loves  the  approval  of  his  friends, 
as  much  as  he  dreads  their  displeasure.  As  a  speaker  he 
has  but  few  equals  in  the  Senate  ;  and  his  speeches  are  more 
remarkable  for  depth  than  longitude.  He  is  sociable,  gener 
ous,  and  get-at-able  ;  though  strictly  temperate,  he  loves  the 
good  things  of  this  life.  He  has  dark  brown  hair,  half-shut 
eyes  shaded  with  fat,  a  face  plump  and  fair  as  the  full  moon, 
—  is  six  feet  tall,  and  weighs  not  less  than  three  hundred 
pounds. 

ANSON  BURLINGAME  is  probably  not  more  than  thirty 
years  of  age, —  is  about  five  feet  eight  inches  in  height,  and 
fairly  proportioned ;  has  dark  brown  hair,  usually  brushed 
smooth  as  a  bird's  wing; — broad  white  forehead,  indicating 
strength  of  intellect ;  —  blue,  magnetic  eyes,  and  fair  com 
plexion.  It  is  quite  evident  that  he  is  fond  of  fame,  and  is 
extremely  solicitous  to  secure  the  good  opinion  of  his 
friends.  Indeed,  he  is  not  reluctant  to  put  himself  to  great 
inconvenience  to  accommodate  others ; — naturally  gentle  and 
generous,  with  impulse  and  intellect  pretty  evenly  balanced. 


140  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

He  possesses  the  true  vivida  vis  of  eloquence, —  and  when  he 
repents  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  over  the  unfortunate  speech 
he  made  against  the  Maine  Law,  he  will  be  a  man  the  people 
will  again  delight  to  honor.  His  style  is  what  may  be 
termed  poetical,  and  yet  he  displays  a  good  degree  of  terse 
ness  and  conciseness ;  is  sparing  of  uniting  particles  and 
introductory  phrases,  and  usually  employs  the  simplest  forms 
of  construction.  Knowing,  as  he  does,  that  he  is  a  universal 
favorite,  he  has  taken  the  liberty  to  oppose  the  wishes  and 
disappoint  the  expectations  of  his  constituents,  on  the  great 
question  of  the  present  age.  Perhaps  he  and  his  historical 
friend  may  use  the  language  of  Hudibras  :  — 

"  And  have  not  two  saints  power  to  use 
A  greater  privilege  than  three  Jews  ?  " 

SAMUEL  E.  SEWALL  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the 
oldest  families  in  Massachusetts.  For  a  long  time  he  has 
been  an  out-spoken,  non-compromising  abolitionist, — latterly 
associated  with  the  Liberty  and  Free  Soil  parties.  He  is  a 
man  of  upright  intentions,  generous  sympathies,  enlarged 
views,  and  unimpeachable  purity  of  character.  Bred  to  the 
profession  of  the  law,  and  mingling  in  the  busy  scenes  of 
life,  he  has  been  a  close  observer  of  men  and  measures. 
Though  naturally  quiet,  modest,  and  unobtrusive,  when 
aroused  he  defends  himself  and  his  friends  with  energy  and 
power. 

In  the  late  effort  to  enforce  the  "infamous  Fugitive  Slave 
law,"  he  was  a  prominent  actor  on  the  liberal  side.  Volun 
teering  to  act  as  counsel  for  the  hunted  bondman,  on  the 
memorable  night  Sims  was  arrested,  some  of  our  officials 
lodged  him  in  the  Watch-house  for  the  time,  an  honor  he 
may  bequeath  as  an  heirloom  to  his  children's  children.  In 
person  he  is  rather  short  and  slight ;  hair  quite  grey ;  eyes 


CEATON     SKETCHES.  141 

blue ;  complexion  fair.  He  wears  his  snow-white  collar 
rolled  over  a  thin  cravat,  and  looks  like  a  school-boy  with 
his  head  powdered.  As  a  speaker  he  is  faulty ;  he  talks  in 
a  low,  quiet,  deferential  manner,  as  though  he  supposed  his 
hearers  knew  more  about  the  subject  than  he  did  himself, 
and  has  a  habit  of  fumbling  in  his  pockets,  as  though  his 
ideas  were  in  his  purse.  Notwithstanding  all  this  awkward 
ness,  the  attentive  listener  will  discover  freshness  of  thought, 
soundness  of  logic,  and  purity  of  purpose.  He  is  probably 
fifty  years  of  age. 

JAMES  T.  ROBINSON  was  born  in  South  Adams,  Berk 
shire  County,  in  1822  ;  educated  at  schools  and  academies, 
and  graduated  at  Williams'  College,  in  1844.  He  had  pre 
viously  studied  law  in  his  father's  office,  (who  is  one  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  in  Berkshire,)  and  on  his  graduation  was 
admitted  to  the  Berkshire  bar,  and  went  into  partnership 
with  his  father,  where  he  still  remains.  In  '44,  he  stumped 
Berkshire  for  Henry  Clay,  in  company  with  Rockwell, 
since  honored  by  a  seat  in  Congress.  In  1848,  left  the 
Whigs  and  joined  the  Free  Soilers,  at  great  risk  of  business 
interest,  popularity,  &c.,  where  he  still  remains. 

Next  to  Burlingame,  he  is  the  youngest  man  at  the  Sen 
ate  Board.  Lightish  complexion,  greyish  eyes,  acquiline 
nose,  thinnish  in  build.  A  graceful,  earnest,  whole-souled, 
nervous  speaker.  Reputed  to  be  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
men  in  Berkshire,  as  he  certainly  is  at  the  Board.  A  warm 
advocate  of  the  Temperance  and  Anti-Slavery  causes.  He 
has  rendered  signal  service  for  the  new  Liquor  Bill,  —  by 
his  exertions  it  was  materially  improved.  He  has  rare 
talents,  and  is  one  of  the  most  promising  young  men  in  the 
State,  and  a  worthy  follower  of  the  eloquent  Sumner. 
12 


142  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

CALEB  W.  PROUTY  is  one  of  that  rare  class  of  legisla 
tors  who  seldom  talk,  but  always  rightly  vote.  He  is  a  fit 
representative  of  the  Old  Plymouth  Rock  district  —  stead 
fast,  frank,  pure,  principled.  He  is  not  a  "  brilliant "  man  ; 
does  not  patter  and  spatter  like  many ;  but  shines  with  a 
clear  and  constant  light.  Clearly  understanding  his  subject, 
he  lets  his  action  speak  louder  than  his  words.  Yet  he  is 
not  reserved  or  distant,  but  cordial,  fraternal  and  highly 
sympathetic.  Few  men,  probably,  have  a  larger  number  of 
personal  friends  among  his  townsmen  and  constituents 
than  he. 

Mr.  Prouty  is  a  native  of  Scituate;  was  born  in  1810; 
has  generally  been  a  merchant  or  trader,  yet  never  before 
the  present  year  held  a  seat  in  the  Legislature.  He  is  one 
of  the  constants  who  are  always  in  their  seats.  He  voted, 
recently,  on  every  proposition  affecting  the  new  liquor  law, 
and  what  cannot  be  said  of  all  the  Senators,  never  voted 
wrong,  in  my  judgment.  As  a  member  of  an  important 
committee,  having  in  charge  one  of  the  great  interests  of  the 
State,  he  has  rendered  signal  service. 

Mr.  P.  is  of  good  build ;  open,  pleasant  face,  set  off  with 
bright  blue  eyes.  His  hair  is  brown,  rather  thin,  and  stands 
up  from  a  well-developed  forehead.  He  dresses  like  a  sub 
stantial  man,  rather  than  as  a  foppish  one.  He  is  active  as 
a  temperance  man  and  Free  Soil  Abolitionist.  In  faith  he 
is  a  Unitarian. 

CHARLES  T.  RUSSELL  is  an  intellectual  looking  man,  of 
the  nervous  temperament,  has  a  pale,  thin  face,  wears  specta 
cles,  and  has  made  a  spectacle  of  himself,  by  his  hide-and- 
go-seek  course  on  the  Liquor  Bill.  He  professes  to  be 
devout ;  pretends  to  be  a  friend  to  the  cause  he  stabbed  in 
the  house  of  its  friends,  speaks  freely  and  frequently, 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  143 

although  he  does  not  say  much.  Walks  as  though  self- 
esteem  had  some  influence  over  his  heels  and  his  hands. 
He  is  occasionally  eloquent,  and  can  reason  when  he  takes 
the  trouble  to  think  before  he  speaks ;  has  a  good  mind,  a 
good  education  and  generous  impulses,  but  he  lacks  the 
courage  to  follow  his  convictions.  He  has  not  a  very  agree 
able  voice,  and  has  the  bad  habit  of  emphasizing  the  most 
unimportant  words ;  nevertheless,  is  urbane,  pleasant  and 
sociable ;  — 

"  Tls  with  our  judgment  as  our  watches,  none 
Go  just  alike,  yet  each  believes  his  own." 

THOMAS  G.  GARY  is  a  tall,  spare  gentleman,  of  elderly 
years,  with  curly,  silver  hair,  long  pale  face,  blue  eyes,  and 
a  well-developed  forehead.  He  is  polite,  pleasant,  and  con 
ciliatory,  squeamishly  particular  in  matters  of  dress  and 
address.  Wishes  to  suit  all  people  generally,  and  his  own 
clique  in  particular.  It  is  evident  he  has  looked  at  only  one 
side,  and  that  the  wrong  side,  of  the  subject  of  temperance. 
He  is  a  calm,  cool,  moderate  speaker ;  seldom  soars  to  the 
realm  of  eloquence  ;  never  sinks  into  the  unbridged  gulf  of 
vulgar  and  personal  abuse.  He  never  spins  out  long-winded, 
flimsy  speeches ;  never  wearies  the  listener  with  antithetical 
sentences ;  but  generally  gives  you  the  point-blank  truth,  in 
the  plainest  and  purest  Saxon. 

CHRISTOPHER  A.  CHURCH  is  a  tall,  agreeable  man,  with 
bright  eyes,  sharp,  thin  face ;  he  is  about  forty  years  of  age, 
speaks  fluently  and  distinctly,  without  wasting  words  ;  he  is 
sound  on  moral  questions,  and  highly  esteemed  for  his  social 
qualities  and  amiable  disposition.  His  Maine  Law  speech 
proves  him  to  be  no  common  thinker.  He  is  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  much  esteemed  by  his  townsmen. 


144  CKATON     SKETCHES. 

GEORGE  H.  KTJHN,  of  the  Suffolk  delegation,  is  one  of 
the  most  useful  Senators.  As  chairman  of  the  important 
Committee  on  Mercantile  Affairs  and  Insurance,  he  is  hard 
working,  faithful,  and  expeditious,  yet  not  slovenly.  His 
labors  are  most  complete.  Without  exception,  I  am  told, 
he  personally  drafts  more  bills  and  resolves  than  any  other 
member.  He  is  a  Boston  man,  by  birth  and  residence ;  born 
in  1795;  entered  the  Legislature  in  1846 ;  largely  interested 
in  the  Western  Railroad,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  Direct 
ors.  A  little,  sprightly,  pleasant,  bald,  spectacled,  polite 
man,  whom  every  one  respects.  Does  not  speak  often. 

CHARLES  C.  HAZEWELL  is  a  Rhode  Islander  by  birth, 
and  a  type-setter  by  profession ;  and  though  entitled  to  the 
"  Hon."  from  his  position,  finds  more  acceptable  homage 
when  addressed  as  a  "jour,  printer."  He  was  born  in 
1815,  entered  the  Legislature  for  the  first  tune  the  present 
year,  and  resides  in  the  pretty  town  of  Concord.  He  is  of 
good  size,  full  forehead,  bright  eyes,  white,  transparent  face, 
which  shows  every  thought ;  wears  silver-bowed  spectacles. 
As  a  reader  of  history,  but  more  particularly  as  a  remem 
berer  of  it,  he  probably  has  not  his  superior.  He  lends  a 
charm  to  any  debate  when  he  brings  this  vast  knowledge 
into  requisition.  A  most  industrious  man  and  cordial  com 
panion,  though  quickly  excited  at  a  supposed  affront.  Has 
edited  innumerable  papers,  and  written  many  of  the  ablest 
reviews  which  have  appeared  in  print.  He  is  a  determined 
opponent  of  the  Maine  liquor  law,  but  a  frank  and  honest 
one.  At  present  he  is  the  political  editor  of  the  Boston 
Times. 

JOHN  S.  C.  KNOWLTON,  FREEMAN  WALKER,  (brother 
of  Amasa,)  and  MOSES  WOOD,  of  the  Worcester  delega- 


CBAYON     SKETCHES.  145 

tion,  are  substantial,  talented,  and  influential  members, 
though  they  talk  but  little.  They  are  fit  representatives  of 
the  intelligence  and  worth  of  the  "  heart  of  the  Common 
wealth," —  prompt  in  their  places,  and  faithful  in  their  duties. 

WHITING  GEISWOLD  is  the  picture  of  health,  ease,  and 
good  nature ;  yet  his  full  forehead,  and  bright  dark  eyes, 
denote  considerable  intellectual  power.  In  personal  appear 
ance  he  makes  one  think  of  the  well-to-do  country  landlord, 
whose  cordial  welcome  guarantees  a  loaded  board,  clean  bed, 
and  the  best  of  care.  He  is  not  far  from  forty  years  old, 
rotund  person,  wears  a  blue  coat  with  bright  buttons,  has 
a  rosy  cheek,  and  the  most  candid  address.  He  is  the  sole 
representative  of  Franklin  County,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut,  (of  which  he  is  a  native,)  is  now  regarded  as 
one  of  the  ablest  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  hi  the 
State.  As  a  speaker,  he  is  sound,  clear,  thorough,  well- 
informed,  and  though  not  a  brilliant,  is  a  very  interesting 
debater.  When  roused  to  vindicate  himself,  or  measures, 
or  party,  there  is  no  half-way  work  with  him.  His  digni 
fied,  calm  utterance  has  great  power.  It  needs  but  few 
words  from  him  to  make  all  the  wit  and  facetiousness  of 
Judge  Warren  appear  the  most  contemptible  twaddle.  Mr. 
Griswold  is  a  lawyer,  and  holds  the  responsible  post  of 
Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

ZENAS  BASSETT,  of  Barnstable,  is  a  noble  son  of  the 
sandy  Cape.  He  is  a  native  of  the  town  and  county  he  rep 
resents  ;  followed  the  seas  for  many  years,  and  settled  down 
at  last  to  receive  the  respect  his  many  virtues  command. 
He  is  tall,  thick-set,  with  furrowed  brow,  grey  hair,  small, 
bright,  laughing  eyes,  benevolent  features ;  is  sixty  or  more 
years  of  age  ;  wears  a  dark  blue  frock-coat,  and  dark  dress 
12* 


146  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

generally.  Has  the  air  of  a  substantial,  sensible,  generous, 
retired  ship-master.  One  feels  as  though  it  would  have  been 
pleasant  to  sail  in  the  same  craft  with  him.  An  indefatigable 
worker ;  always  present ;  seldom  addresses  the  Board,  but 
when  he  does,  is  plain  and  practical.  Is  a  Whig  of  liberal 
views. 

EDMUND  KIMBALL,  of  the  Essex  delegation,  is  a  genial, 
pleasant,  faithful  legislator,  prompt  and  able.  Takes  life 
as  easily  as  he  does  an  occasional  pinch  of  snuff.  Loves 
to  crack  a  quiet  joke  with  his  neighbors  or  the  Clerks.  Lives 
up  in  Bradford,  on  the  Merrimack,  and  is  much  esteemed  as 
a  citizen.  Quite  a  temperance  man,  as  well  as  Free  Soiler. 
He  is  a  morocco-dresser  by  trade,  but  there  is  no  prunella 
in  his  composition. 

CHARLES  HUBBARD  is  an  artist  of  some  celebrity.  I 
am  told  he  is  a  faithful  committee-man,  and  invariably  in  his 
seat.  He  is  interested  in  various  public  enterprises ;  some 
what,  though  creditably,  particular  to  have  everything  under 
his  charge  well  arranged  and  complete.  He  is  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Chelsea,  and  has  served  in  various  honorable 
capacities,  but  is  as  much  identified  with  the  interests  of 
Boston  as  of  the  place  of  his  residence. 

OLIVER  AMES,  JR.,  is  a  silent  member,  but  a  practical 
worker  and  an  eloquent  voter ;  a  man  of  middling  stature, 
with  small,  sharp  eyes.  In  business,  he  is  a  shovel  maker, 
doing  a  large  business,  and  is  helping  to  dig  the  grave  of 
the  autocrat  Alcohol.  He  is  a  man  of  liberal  views,  of 
Whig  politics. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  147 

CHARLES  W.  SLACK,  Assistant  Clerk  of  the  Senate,  is 
highly  esteemed  by  members  of  all  parties  for  his  many 
excellent  attributes,  and  is  an  universal  favorite  in  the 
large  circle  of  his  acquaintance.  As  a  friend,  he  is  true  as 
steel  to  the  pole  ;  genial  as  sunshine ;  generous  to  a  fault ; 
always  polite  and  pleasant,  and  never  fails  to  give  a  favor 
able  interpretation  to  the  words  and  deeds  of  others.  He 
speaks  easily  and  eloquently,  but  with  too  much  constrained 
gesture ;  writes  readily,  forcibly,  accurately.  His  stirring 
speeches  and  classical  essays  show  that  neither  his  sympa 
thies  nor  attainments  are  meagre.  Although  much  in  pub 
lic  life,  he  is  rather  retiring  in  his  nature;  distrusts  too 
much  his  own  abilities  ;  frank  and  open,  and  despises  shams, 
whether  of  manners,  measures  or  men.  In  person,  he  is  of 
medium  stature  ;  light  complexion  ;  nervous-sanguine  tem 
perament  ;  has  blue  eyes  ;  light,  silky  hair ;  prominent  fore 
head  ;  thin,  pale  face  ;  wears  glasses  ;  dresses  neatly.  He 
is  a  Boston  boy,  was  brought  up  in  the  Journal  office,  and 
has  been  editorially  connected  with  the  Excelsior  and  New- 
Englander.  Has  rendered  good  service  as  a  Temperance 
and  Free  Soil  lecturer ;  and  among  his  other  accomplish 
ments  is  a  creditable  phonographic  reporter,  and  when  desi 
rous  of  it  can  have  an  enviable  reputation  thereby.  A  great 
lover  of  mirth,  though  he  makes  little  himself. 

NATHANIEL  P.  BANKS,  JR.,  Speaker  of  the  House,  is  the 
man  for  the  position  he  occupies  —  sharp,  shrewd,  impartial, 
polite,  and  thoroughly  familiar  with  parliamentary  usages. 
He  knows  every  member  at  a  moment's  glance,  and  while  he 
looks  at  the  man  (rising  to  speak)  with  one  eye,  he  looks 
through  him  with  the  other,  and  announces  his  name,  imme 
diately  and  distinctly.  Mr.  Banks  seldom  makes  a  blunder, 
and  he  has  tact  and  talent  to  conceal  or  correct  many  of  the 


148  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

mistakes  made  by  those  whose  bad  manuscript  and  worse 
grammar  would  be  a  caution  to  the  ghost  of  Lindley  Mur 
ray,  if  read  verbatim  et  literatim  et  punctuatim,  from  the 
Speaker's  chair.  He  usually  wears  a  brown  frock-coat,  buff 
vest,  black  stock.  Mr.  Banks  has  dark  blue  eyes,  uncom 
monly  expressive  ;  a  thin,  pale,  intellectual  face ;  a  plentiful 
supply  of  dark  hair,  (somewhat  tinged  with  frost,  although 
he  is  not  yet  forty  years  of  age,)  which  is  brushed  so  as  to 
leave  one  temple  bare,  while  it  hangs  down  to  the  eye-brow 
on  the  other  side. 

He  is  a  native  of  TValtham,  born  in  1816;  first  entered 
the  Legislature  in  1849  ;  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  1851,  and  re-elected  in  1852  —  proba 
bly  one  of  the  youngest  presiding  officers  that  ever  graced 
the  woolsack.  He  was  brought  up  as  a  machinist  and  toiled 
with  his  hands,  and  exercised  his  brains  by  way  of  pastime. 
Self-educated.  It  is  said  that  at  one  period  he  was  an  active 
fireman,  and  ran  with  the  "  machine,"  and,  on  holiday  occa 
sions,  donned  the  red  shirt,  buff  pants  and  leathern  cap,  — 
of  late  so  distinguishing  a  mark  of  the  brave  and  preemi 
nently  cold-water  men.  He  subsequently  left  the  work-bench 
for  the  office  and  green-bag,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Mid 
dlesex  bar,  where  he  has  distinguished  himself  more  by  the 
faithfulness  of  his  services  to  his  clients  than  the  receipt  of 
an  immensity  of  business.  He  has  always  been  very  popu 
lar  in  his  native  town,  and  could  always  be  elected  to  repre 
sent  it  when  every  other  man  failed.  Is  of  Democratic  sym 
pathies,  and  always  has  been,  but  inclines  to  liberal  views. 
He  is  entitled  to  great  credit  for  working  his  way  so  high  in 
life,  under  adverse  circumstances. 

JOHN  MILTON  EARLE  is  a  fair  specimen  of  a  Massachu 
setts  legislator, —  honest,  candid,  and  independent.  He  is  a 


CBAYON     SKETCHES.  149 

native  of  Leicester,  born  in  1794,  and  first  entered  the 
Legislature  in  1845.  For  many  years  he  has  been  editor 
of  the  Massachusetts  Spy,  the  oldest  newspaper  in  the  State, 
and  one  of  the  most  influential.  Mr.  Earle  is  a  Friend  or 
Quaker,  wearing  the  broad-brimmed  hat,  (when  not  in  his 
seat,)  and  straight-cut,  standing-collared,  brown  coat,  though 
in  many  respects  not  so  rigid  in  his  observance  of  the  pecu 
liarities  of  the  sect  as  many  of  his  brethren.  In  1848,  he 
united  with  the  Free  Soil  party,  and  took  with  him  his 
paper,  which  has  a  very  large  circulation  among  the  farmers 
and  thinking  men  of  Worcester  County,  and  the  consequence 
was,  the  heart  of  the  Commonwealth  became  the  centre  of 
the  new  political  party,  throwing  the  heaviest  majorities  for 
its  candidates, —  which  position  it  retains  to  this  day. 

Mr.  Earle  is  quite  tall  and  spare  ;  has  a  sharp,  grey  eye, 
though  the  general  character  of  his  face  is  mild  and  pleas 
ant  ;  his  hair  is  straight,  white  and  thin,  as  though  it  had 
withstood  many  storms,  as  indeed  it  has;  his  features  are 
well  wrinkled.  He  is  clear-headed  and  sound  on  general 
questions.  As  a  speaker,  more  interesting  than  brilliant,  but 
his  defect  is  that  he  talks  too  much.  If  his  ammunition 
were  saved  for  occasional  battery-discharges,  instead  of 
constant  pistol-snaps,  more  execution  would  be  done.  As  a 
tactician,  he  is  not  the  best  —  the  truth  being,  he  is  too  old 
and  too  candid  for  such  nice  work.  Mr.  Hopkins,  this  year, 
accomplishes  in  this  respect  much  more  successfully  what 
Mr.  Earle  undertook  last  year.  As  a  writer,  Mr.  Earle  is 
terse,  pungent,  straight-forward,  guided  solely  by  principle, 
and  ever  alive  to  the  necessities  of  the  suffering.  His  age, 
character,  and  social  position  fully  entitle  him  to  the  soubri 
quet  of  "  Father  Earle." 

EBASTUS  HOPKINS  is  considered  the  leader  of  the  Free 
Soil  wing  of  the  Coalition,  in  the  House.     He  was  bora  at 


150  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

Hadley,  on  the  Connecticut,  in  1810,  and  first  entered  the 
Legislature  in  1841.  In  many  particulars  he  is  quite  con 
servative  and  orthodox,  like  nearly  all  the  dwellers  in  the 
Connecticut  valley.  By  profession  he  is  a  clergyman  of  the 
Unitarian  faith,  though  of  late  he  has  not  preached,  but 
obtained  his  subsistence  by  a  connection  with  railroad  enter 
prises.  He  is  a  man  of  not  very  prepossessing  appearance, 
being  sallow  in  complexion,  of  lightish-red  hair  and  whisk 
ers,  and  homely  features.  But  when  in  conversation  or 
debate,  his  whole  appearance  is  changed  —  he  becomes 
seemingly  inspired.  As  an  orator,  he  is  bold  and  brilliant, 
appearing  to  best  advantage,  however,  when  favored  with  a 
little  previous  preparation.  He  was  commissioned  by  the 
Governor,  recently,  to  convey  to  Kossuth  the  official  invita 
tion  to  visit  Massachusetts,  and  it  is  said  his  speech  on  the 
occasion  of  the  interview  even  transcended  in  sublimity  and 
grandeur  that  of  the  great  Hungarian  himself.  Surely,  it 
reads  grandly.  He  is  a  ready  manager,  and  nobly  conducts 
the  party  in  its  parliamentary  duties.  His  opponents  find 
in  him  an  able,  yet  courteous  antagonist.  A  noble  specimen 
of  a  Western  Massachusetts  man. 

WILLIAM  SCHOULER,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  House,  is 
a  Scotchman  by  birth,  and  entered  upon  his  career  as  a 
Legislator  in  1844,  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age.  He  is 
a  man  of  large  sympathies,  and  though  wedded  to  a  political 
life,  does  not  carry  his  party  antipathies  into  the  social  or 
domestic  circle.  He  is  the  principal  editor  of  the  Atlas, 
the  leading  Whig  paper  of  New-England,  if  not  of  Boston, 
where  Daniel  Webster  is  supremely  worshipped.  But  in 
this  devotion  the  Atlas  was  always  lukewarm.  Mr.  S.  estab 
lished  his  reputation  as  an  editor,  among  the  spindles  of 
Lowell,  and  when  he  came  to  Boston,  spit  the  cotton  from  his 
throat,  and  affected  to  stand  on  free  ground. 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  151 

He  is  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  brown  hair,  blue  eyes,  and 
light  complexion.  At  present  noting,  he  has  a  rosy,  healthy 
face,  beaming  with  laughter  and  good  nature.  As  a  speaker, 
he  is  not  very  fluent,  but  generally  interesting.  His  manners 
are  rather  awkward,  as  though  he  were  so  long  he  did  not 
know  how  to  care  for  his  person.  A  man  of  great  persever 
ance,  but  not  always  so  consistent  for  the  right  in  liberal 
politics,  as  some  others.  He  is  considered  a  good  tactician, 
and  has  successfully  carried  through  the  House,  heretofore, 
some  important  measures,  solely  by  his  persistence  and  skill. 
Is  a  great  lover  of  festive  gatherings,  and  presides  admirably. 
He  has  held  a  commission  in  the  Artillery  service,  has  the 
title  of  Colonel,  and  is  President  of  the  Scots'  Charitable 
Society.  Is  blessed  with  a  lovely  family,  and  resides  in  one 
of  the  prettiest  cottages  in  East  Boston,  overlooking  the 
protecting  castles  of  the  harbor. 

HORACE  E.  SMITH  is  the  champion  of  the  Massachusetts 
Maine  Law  in  the  House.  His  opening  speech  was  a  mas 
terly  effort,  and  deserves  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold. 
While  he  sets  a  proper  value  on  moral  suasion,  he  advocates 
the  use  of  coercive  measures,  when  appeals  and  argument 
are  powerless.  He  has  studied  the  bill  critically,  and  is 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  its  provisions,  and  prepared 
to  meet  all  the  objections  that  may  be  raised  against  it. 
The  great  service  he  has  rendered  the  good  cause  of  tem 
perance,  will  put  a  feather  in  his  cap  of  which  he  and  his 
descendants  will  be  proud. 

He  is  a  pale,  slender,  graceful  man,  in  the  meridian  of 
life  ;  has  a  bold  forehead,  blue  eyes,  and  brown  hair  ;  wears 
glasses  ;  dresses  neatly ;  speaks  earnestly  and  distinctly, 
from  a  wise  head  and  a  warm  heart.  Success  to  him  and 
his  cause ! 


152  CRAYON       SKETCHES. 

JAMES  S.  WIGGIN  is  the  champion  of  the  anti-temper 
ance  party,  the  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the  Maine 
Law,  in  the  House.  Although  not  a  profound  thinker,  and 
quite  an  indifferent  speaker,  his  perseverance  and  earnest 
ness  help  to  make  up  such  deficiencies.  In  his  recent 
defence  of  the  rum-traffic,  he  was  quite  embarrassed,  and 
acted  so  awkwardly  that  not  a  few  of  the  grave  faces  pres 
ent  gleamed  with  fun,  at  his  ludicrous  blunders.  His  manu 
script  and  his  memory  did  not  tally,  for  when  he  made  an 
effort  to  speak  extemporaneously,  he  soon  found  himself 
floundering  in  the  mire, —  and  when  he  referred  to  what  he 
had  written,  he  made  the  discovery  that  he  had  taken  the 
wrong  sheet !  Then,  again,  he  was  uncourteously  chocked  off, 
before  he  had  time  to  wind  up  his  speech.  Notwithstanding 
all  those  difficulties,  he  gave  one  of  the  best  speeches  that 
have  been  made  in  either  branch  of  the  Legislature  on  that 
subject. 

He  is  a  tall,  graceful,  good-looking  man,  with  sharp  eyes, 
dark  hair,  and  ruddy  countenance.  He  is  about  thirty-five 
years  of  age  ;  is  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  and  would 
have  to  sacrifice  what  he  calls  property  in  the  event  of  the 
passage  of  the  law  which  he  fights  so  ferociously.  He  is  a 
keen  man  of  business, —  brave  and  energetic, —  and  will 
"  stick  at  nothing  "  to  defeat  the  bill  he  hates  with  perfect 
hatred. 

JAMES  SMALL  is  the  oldest  member  (not  the  oldest  man) 
in  the  House.  He  is  a  plain,  farmer-like  looking  person, 
nearly  sixty  years  of  age ;  has  a  broad  chest,  bronzed  face, 
grey  head,  and  bright  eyes.  Speaks  out  bluntly  and  fear 
lessly,  with  his  spectacles  in  his  hands ;  abounds  in  dry 
jokes ;  commands  the  respectful  attention  of  the  -House. 
He  hails  from  the  "  right  arm  of  the  Commonwealth." 


CBAYON     SKETC5ES.  153 

ENSIGN  H.  KELLOGG  may  be  styled  the  leader  of  the 
Whig  section  of  the  House,  having  occupied  formerly  the 
Speaker's  chair,  and  for  the  last  two  years,  been  his  party's 
candidate  for  the  same  honor.  He  is  a  native  of  old  Berk 
shire,  was  born  in  1812,  educated  to  the  law,  and  made 
his  debut  as  a  legislator  in  1843.  In  the  memorable  con 
test  which  preceded  the  election  of  Charles  Sumner  to 
the  National  Senate,  Mr.  Kellogg  most  adroitly  man 
aged  the  Whig  opposition,  delaying  action,  and  involving 
the  Chair  in  a  series  of  parliamentary  intricacies,  from  which 
a  man  less  skilful  than  Speaker  Banks  could  hardly  hope  to 
be  relieved.  His  former  experience  as  the  presiding  officer, 
gives  him  superior  advantages  to  most  of  his  party  for  this 
sort  of  warfare. 

Mr.  Kellogg  is  an  easy,  clear,  forcible  debater,  abounding 
in  good  humor,  and  occasionally  keen  retorts.  His  hits  at 
opponents  are  oftentimes  exceedingly  clever.  In  person,  he 
is  of  good  stature,  well  built,  with  full  face,  bright  grey  eyes, 
dark  hair  "  all  up  in  a  heap,"  wears  black-bowed,  lawyer- 
like  spectacles,  and  has  an  inexpressible  look  of  bon  hommie 
and  fun.  I  should  judge  he  was  considerable  of  a  joker,  as 
I  know  he  is  extremely  sociable.  A  man  of  great  force  of 
character,  and  doubtless  of  high  position  hereafter,  as  of 
influence  at  present. 

J.  THOMAS  STEVENSON  is  a  Boston  boy,  Boston  man, 
Boston  merchant  —  in  fact,  Boston  all  over.  Liberally  edu 
cated,  eloquent,  able,  social,  generous,  commanding,  he  truth 
fully  represents  the  worth,  wealth,  intelligence  and  general 
excellence  of  the  old  Pilgrim  city.  He  was  born  in  1807, 
received  the  advantages  of  the  city  schools  and  Harvard 
College,  then  entered  upon  mercantile  pursuits,  and  soon 
reached  the  first  place  hi  his  profession.  In  1839  he  first 
13 


154  CEATON     SKETCHES. 

entered  the  Legislature,  and  more  or  less  since  has  been 
identified  with  the  career  and  fame  of  the  State. 

As  a  speaker,  Mr.  Stevenson  has  few  superiors.  His 
early  liberal  education,  deepened  and  extended  by  an  after 
life  of  active  business  habits,  gives  him  the  power  to  combine 
poetry  and  philosophy  with  great  skill.  He  usually  pre 
pares  his  speeches  beforehand,  seldom  making  a  set  address 
without  full-written  notes  in  his  pocket.  His  recent  effort 
against  the  new  liquor  law,  contains  passages  of  portraiture  of 
the  evils  of  intemperance  which  cannot  be  exceeded  in  sub 
limity  and  choice  expression  by  any  words  in  our  language. 
He  is  a  Whig  in  politics,  a  warm  admirer  of  Mr.  Webster, 
and  has  a  deep  devotion  to  the  interests  of  old  Massachusetts. 
A  benevolent,  progressive  sort  of  a  man,  but  do  n't  want  to 
go  too  fast ;  in  this  last  respect  his  prudential  fear  too  fre 
quently  checks  the  most  worthy  impulses.  A  warm  friend, 
devoted  parent,  estimable  citizen.  Many  noble  enterprises 
have  received  his  support,  and  numerous  official  stations  have 
been  honored  by  his  connection  with  them. 

He  is  now  in  the  full  maturity  of  manhood.  Tall,  pre 
possessing,  olive  complexion,  keen  grey  eyes,  well-turned 
features,  and  dark  hair  considerably  frosted  by  age.  He 
affects  a  brown  or  snuff-colored  coat  for  ordinary  wear,  but 
otherwise  dresses  in  dark-hued  garments.  Graceful  in  atti 
tude,  fluent  in  speech,  and  able  in  argument,  he  is  a  marked 
man  in  the  lower  branch. 

THOMAS  E.  PAYSON,  of  Rowley,  Essex  County,  is  a  man 
of  some  character  in  the  House.  He  is  a  stout,  ruddy  far 
mer,  of  great  practical  sense  and  shrewdness,  and  can  break 
up  land  or  sophistical  reasoning  with  equal  facility.  He 
distinguished  himself  in  1850,  by  a  speech  against  an  agri 
cultural  college  for  instruction  in  farming  on  scientific  prin- 


CRAYON     SKETCHES.  155 

ciples,  —  a  hobby  some  of  the  Boston  amateur  agriculturists 
have  ridden  nearly  to  death  —  which  was  the  speech  of  the 
session.  Clear,  forcible,  sensible,  he  upset  and  utterly  routed 
the  theorists,  and  killed  the  measure  as  dead  as  flies  in  a 
poison-dish,  in  Summer  time.  He  is  a  native  of  Rowley, — 
thirty-nine  years  of  age. 

OTIS  P.  LORD.  —  When  I  entered  the  House  I  heard 
the  familiar  voice  of  a  gentleman  from  Salem,  who  speaks 
too  frequently  for  his  own  fame,  and  the  edification  of  his 
colleagues,  to  say  nothing  about  the  welfare  of  his  constitu 
ents.  It  is  quite  evident  he  has  a  vast  opinion  of  his  own 
abilities,  and  if  he  is  not  the  leader  of  the  party  to  which  he 
belongs,  it  is  not  owing  to  a  superabundance  of  modesty  on 
his  part.  He  is  a  cautious  man,  and  never  ventures  a  step 
beyond  the  protecting  wing  of  his  party  —  a  good  party 
enough  in  the  abstract,  although  it  happens  just  now  to  be  in 
a  minority  in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Lord  is  a  man  of  respect 
able  talents,  and  although  he  stammers  and  blusters,  now 
and  then,  he  says  some  very  good  things.  He  is  in  the 
prime  of  life,  of  common  height  and  good  build ;  dresses 
neatly,  &c.  His  face  is  strongly  marked,  and  indicates  an 
arbitrary  nature  and  aristocratic  turn  of  mind.  He  looks 
like  something  between  the  silver  grey  and  the  blue  stocking 
tribe.  Has  brown  hair,  blue  eyes,  broad  forehead,  and  is  of 
the  sanguine-nervous  temperament.  He  has  in  him  the 
material  for  a  good  sea  captain,  or  the  leader  of  a  legislative 
body.  He  is  by  profession  a  lawyer ;  a  native  of  Ipswich, 
and  made  his  legislative  debut  in  1847. 

MOSES  KIMBALL  is  one  of  the  proprietors,  and  chief  man 
ager  of  the  Boston  Museum,  a  place  of  unexceptionable 
amusement.  As  a  caterer  for  the  gratification  of  the  curious 


156  CRAYON     SKETCHES. 

and  wonder-loving  public,  he  has  few  rivals  and  no  supe 
riors.  He  is  a  shrewd,  keen  man  of  business,  who  knows 
how  to  touch  the  public  purse-strings.  In  politics,  he  is 
something  of  a  cross  between  a  Whig  and  a  Native  Ameri 
can  ;  he  is  a  man  of  fair  talents,  with  unconquerable  deter 
mination  of  purpose ;  sociable,  generous,  and  good-natured  ; 
loves  to  see  his  neighbors  prosper,  providing  their  curiosity- 
shops  are  not  too  near  his  own.  In  matters  of  dress  he  is 
independent,  foreswearing  the  use  of  dickeys.  He  is  of 
medium  stature,  thick  set,  of  sallow  complexion,  and  has 
a  full,  fat  face,  indicative  of  good  digestion ;  hair  dark,  eyes 
light,  voice  feminine. 

It  is  quite  evident  he  is  ambitious  of  office,  and  good  for 
tune  has  smiled  propitiously  upon  him,  for  he  has  been  a 
prominent  member  of  the  City  Government,  and  is  now  an 
active  Representative. 


3   1205  00418  3842 


NOW     IN     PRESS, 


TALES  FOR  THE  TIME* 


BY  THE   .HTTHOB  OP 


CRAYON-SKETCHES  AD  OFF-HAND  TAKINGS. 


pathetic. 


This  volume  will  contain  the  follow  i 
'o'er  true  tales." 


THE  POOR  PRINTER  AXD  THE  BROKER'S  DAUGHTER  ; 

THE  PREACHER  AXD  THE  GAM: 

THE  Di,.\r  FISHERMAN.—  irrer." 

ii.MAX  AXD  HIS  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW: 
THE  ODD-FEI  THE  GHOST; 

THE   1  vri.j,. 

Tin 

THE  CJ.EI.-K  AND  THE  MERCHANT'S  DAUGHTER; 

.Joiix  BUJ.T,  AND  JONATHAN; 

II  Ui  -XOLOGIST   AXD    THE    Ix.VK  I-EPCR  ; 

THE  MR,, 

^x     '!  •  ,     WITH     THE    II, 

THE   I)i  T<H   Wmou 

A    ^  >B    A    ill  sif  \\i>  : 

'['HE   i 

THE  APPLE  C '> 

THE  Box  i  u  AND  THE  XOISI.E  GRAND: 

THE  IRISH  JANITOR  AND  THE  DUT; 

This  work  Avill  be  handsomely  printed,  on  fine  wL  : 

he  afforded  at  the  low  price  of  Twenty-Five  C, 
hound,  F: 

*  i 

. 


